Breaking Me
by kiloriley
Summary: Jessie and Katie are best friends. This is just another take on what happens when Katie reveals she wants to be more than friends.
1. Chapter 1

Title:: Breaking (it comes from a song I wrote. It's all i could  
think of) It's really not as dramatic as it sounds.  
Author: Breanna  
Feedback: Bring it on  
Disclaimer: I do not own any of these characters. If I did, they  
would still be on TV and we would have no need for fan fiction.  
Rated: PG for the time being. There's some language.

Author's Notes: My first attempt at a fic. Bear with me. I'm not the best writer.

Summary: Jessie and Katie, pre-Gay/Straight Alliance. They are best  
friends. Katie is a Junior, Jessie a sophomore. Jessie does not  
know Katie is gay, but Katie knows she's got it bad for Jessie.  
More to come in the next chapter.

So it begins...

Katie Singer doesn't sleep much these days. Night after night she  
tries her best to fall asleep, but to no avail. Her mind is  
constantly racing, going a mile a minute. Swarming with thoughts  
that she knows she should not be thinking. This night is a  
particularly rough night. I hate Sundays, she thinks to herself.  
She looks at the clock: 1:53am. Damn. It's actually Monday. I HAVE  
to get some sleep. Katie didn't get to see or talk to her best  
friend, Jessie at all today, which is why it was particularly hard  
for her to sleep. The longest they can usually go without speaking  
to each other is a couple hours. And even then, they're usually  
text messaging each other. Katie hates it when she can't talk to  
Jessie. And what she hates even more is the fact that Jessie is  
probably sound asleep and doesn't even think about the fact that  
they haven't spoken all day.

"Oh, screw it," exclaimed Katie as she threw the covers off of her  
and got out of bed. She began pacing around and at this moment,  
seriously considered taking up smoking, just so she would have  
something to occupy her time. Why was she thinking so much about  
Jessie? I mean, she knew why, but why in the middle of the night  
when she should be sleeping? And why during class when she should  
be learning? And why is she thinking about her even when she's with  
her? Katie's in love. She knows it. She's known it from the  
moment she met Jessie. That day she decided to playfully use her  
buddy Tad as an excuse to talk to Jessie. Since then, they've been  
thick as thieves. Katie would never do anything to ruin their  
friendship, so God knows she had to keep her feelings hidden.

She turned on the light and walked over to the mirror and just stood  
and stared at herself. She was tall, thin, and gorgeous. She  
didn't really see that, though. All she saw was someone that Jessie  
Sammler didn't want in a romantic way. She knew she was thin, even  
though she ate like a horse, and she was kind of tall, which made  
her slouch a bit, but gorgeous? No matter what people told her, she  
didn't believe it. She stood there in her short and tank top and  
just studied herself for a few minutes.

If only Jessie knew what I was thinking….

Meanwhile, it was now 2:17am and Jessie Sammler was lying in bed  
waiting for her alarm clock to go off so she can start her day and  
see Katie at school. But dammit, she had 4 hours to go. Why do the  
nights seem so long now? She thought. Perhaps it's because Jessie  
hasn't been sleeping lately, either. Tonight was particularly hard  
for her. She was at her cousin's house about two hours away for an  
incredibly long and boring baby shower. She wanted to ask Katie to  
go, but felt like maybe Katie might be getting sick of her, since  
they're together all the time. Jessie was always so hard on herself  
and she honestly couldn't see why Katie wanted to hang around with  
her. She thought Katie was just tolerating her and didn't have the  
heart to tell her to bug off.

"Dammit," she yelled as she threw off the covers. Good thing she  
was in the attic, so no one could hear her frustration. All she  
wanted to do was call Katie, but it was 2 in the morning and she  
didn't want to wake her. And she sure as hell didn't want Katie  
asking, "Why the hell are you calling me at 2am, Jess? Seriously."

Just at that moment, Jessie's phone beeped. Her heart jump a bit.  
It was a text message. From Katie? She thought.

She grabbed her phone and read the text: "You Awake, Billie?"

Without wasting another minute, she texted back: "Yes. Can't  
sleep. Bored out of my friggin' mind today."

Back at Katie's house, Katie waited anxiously for a response. "Beep  
Beep." Finally she got it. Upon reading the message, she wrote  
back: "You know, if I'd have been there, you'd have had more fun.  
We could have spiked the punch."

Jessie laughed at the response and wrote: "Not a good idea. My  
cousin drank most of the punch. She's the pregnant one. I wish you  
had gone."

Katie breathed a sigh of relief when she read that. So she DID want  
me to go, she thought. She wrote back: "I was there in spirit.  
Always."

Jessie smiled at the response. She had no idea why the hell hearing  
from Katie made her so happy, but it did. She sat for a minute,  
pondering what she should do next. She wanted to call Katie. She  
did. Why couldn't she? JUST DIAL THE NUMBER, JESSIE!!! At that  
moment, Jessie's phone rang. It startled and the phone went under  
the bed. She dove down to get it and when she finally reached it,  
she answered.

"Hello?"

"Jess? Is that you? Your voice is muffled?"

"Hey Katie, yeah it's me. Hold on a sec." Jessie tried making her  
way out from under her bed. She was almost successful when at the  
very end, she banged her head on the bed frame.

"Ouch! Son of a bitch! Ow ow ow ow." She exclaimed while jumping up  
and down and holding her head. She realized Katie was still on the  
phone.

"Oh shit. Katie?"

"Yeah, are you all right? What was that noise?"

"Um…..I….hit..my head. Don't laugh."

"Too late," Katie responded while laughing.

"Very funny. You know, I could have a concussion. You wouldn't be  
laughing then, would you?"

"Yup. Concussions are a riot, don't you know?"

Jessie sighed. She can never match Katie's wit. "Why did you call?"

"You didn't respond to my last text. And don't you know that if,  
after two minutes of not hearing from you, I automatically assume  
you're dead or in danger? You know I like to keep tabs on you.  
Don't you see that camera on your ceiling?"

Jessie looked up and immediately felt stupid.

"You looked up, didn't you?" asked Katie.

"You know me too well. Um…I better go, though. I don't want my dad  
or Lily to wake up and find me on the phone. But….I'll see you  
tomorrow, right?"

"Of course," replied Katie.

"Good, cuz I've got something I need to talk to you about."

"Okay, we'll definitely talk tomorrow then. Night, Billie."

"Good night, Katie."

They hung up the phone. Katie fell straight to sleep with a  
ridiculous grin on her face. Jessie lay awake, smiling and mentally  
kicking herself for being such a spaz. Then she fell asleep shortly  
thereafter. She had a big day ahead of her tomorrow and she was  
nervous as hell.


	2. Chapter 2

-1Title: Breaking Me (it comes from a song I wrote. It's all i could  
think of)  
Author: Breanna  
Feedback: Bring it on  
Disclaimer: I do not own any of these characters. If I did, they  
would still be on TV and we would have no need for fan fiction.  
Rated: PG to PG-13 for the time being. There's some language.

So it continues... ..

"Jessie! Get down here! We're going to be late," Grace yelled up to  
the attic. It was yet another hectic Monday morning in the Manning  
house. Jessie came bounding down the stairs wearing her favorite  
jeans and blue sweater.

"Okay, I'm ready. Let's go."

"Breakfast first," said Lily.

"I'm not hungry."

At that statement, Grace, Lily, and Eli all shot Jessie a look. It  
was THE look. The one Jessie always gets when she doesn't eat. She  
hates that look. She really wasn't hungry. She felt like if she  
ate something, she'd throw it up and then everyone would think she  
was bulimic, as well. She decided not to put up a fight and inhaled  
her eggs and toast. Then they were out the door.

It was 7:36am and Upton Sinclair High School was alive and bustling  
with students. But Jessie only had one thing on her mind: find  
Katie. She was beginning to forget what she even looked like.  
Seriously. What the hell is that about? Thought Jessie. I haven't  
seen her in 42 hours and I already forget what she looks like?

"Billie!"

Jessie turned to see her best friend running toward her. Oh, THAT'S  
what she looks like. Just as gorgeous as ever, thought Jessie.  
Wait, gorgeous? Why would she be thinking……oh who cares. Katie IS  
gorgeous. The whole school knew it and Jessie knew it.

"Hey! God, I feel like I haven't seen you in forever. Is that  
weird?" Jessie asked as she gave her friend a hug. She felt like  
she was over-stepping her boundaries by saying that. I mean it had  
ONLY been 42 hours!

"No, that's not weird. You want weird. I'll give you weird. Last  
night, I swear I thought I was forgetting what you looked like, so I  
busted out last years' yearbook just to see your picture so I could  
remember what you looked like."

"Really?" Jessie asked, thinking her friend was pulling her leg  
again.

"Yeah, I'm totally serious. But it didn't work. "

"Why?"

"Because your picture looked NOTHING like you. You are so not  
photogenic." Katie said, teasing her friend.

Jessie nudged Katie. "You're such a brat. I have to get to class,  
but I'll see you at lunch, right?"

"Absolutely. "

It was lunch time and Katie, holding her tray, searched for her  
friend. When she spotted Jessie's unmistakable blonde hair, she  
went over to join her.

"Wow," exclaimed Jessie. "Hungry much?"

Katie looked down at her hamburger, fries, chips, cupcake, pudding,  
banana, and coca cola. She picked up the banana with disgust. "Oops,  
how'd that get on my tray?" She tossed it aside and Jessie grabbed  
it and began peeling it.

"I need to sustain my energy. I'm actually glad I ate this morning."

"Well, I'm glad to see you're eating. So what did you want to talk  
to me about?"

"Well," began Jessie. "So I know this might sound kind of lame, but  
you know I'm a black belt in Tae Kwon Do, right?"

"Yeah. And it's not lame. It's good to know you'd have my back in  
a fight any time."

Jessie smiled. "Yeah. Well, I decided that I want to start up  
again…..today. And I'm kind of shittin' bricks about it seeing as  
how I've been away from it for a while. I just lost my motivation  
after the whole anorex…….after I got sick. And now, well, I don't  
know. For some reason, I kind of just want to get back into it. "

Jessie was lying. She knew exactly why she wanted to start up  
again. Katie was so interesting and intriguing and Jessie was just  
so drawn to her and in awe of her. She wanted to give Katie a  
reason to think that Jessie was just as interesting. And if Katie  
sees her kicking ass and taking names, maybe she'll be drawn to  
Jessie. Jessie had no idea why she wanted to impress Katie so much,  
but she did.

"Anyway," continued Jessie. "I'm going back to class today and I  
could use some moral support….."

"You want me to go with you, Jess?"

"Yeah. If that's cool."

"Of course! I'd love to!" Katie tried to hide her excitement, but  
was failing miserably. "I mean…um….yeah. Sure I'll go with you.  
Do you want me to drive you there?"

"That would be great. I brought my uniform with me, so I can just  
change there."

Jessie watched as Katie finished eating every single thing on her  
tray. She studied her every move. Watched her mouth as she re-  
applied her lip gloss. Something had come alive inside of Jessie.  
A feeling in the pit of her stomach that had not gone away since  
that day she and Katie ditched school and went back to her house.  
She remembered watching Katie's every move then, too. She  
remembered what she felt when she saw Katie take off her white  
turtleneck sweater and lay on her bed wearing just that skimpy tank  
top. She just stared at her and wanted to keep staring. Even now,  
as everyone is talking, joking around with their friends, Jessie is  
completely content just watching Katie. She suddenly became aware  
of her staring as soon as Katie looked over at her. Their eyes  
locked for a moment. A brief moment that was broken by the sound of  
the bell. Even still, as everyone got up to leave, Jessie bravely  
took Katie's hand and whispered, "You're amazing."

Jessie didn't know what possessed her to do that, but it just felt  
right at that moment. She smiled at Katie, let go of her hand and  
got up to go to class.

"I'll see you after school."

Katie was left at the table, in slight shock of the events that  
unfolded. What the hell just happened? She thought. The feeling  
that came over her the minute Jessie touched her hand was  
indescribable. She watched Jessie walk away, as her mouth was  
slightly open, still trying to convince herself that that really  
just happened.

After school, Katie was at her car waiting anxiously for Jessie. She  
tried hard to fight the smile on her face when she saw her friend  
running to get to her.

"You ready?"

"Yeah, let's go."

It was a short drive and they were quiet the whole time. Jessie,  
again, was simply content with just watching Katie while she was  
driving and singing along to the radio.

"Listen," Jessie broke the silence. "I probably won't be nearly as  
good as I used to be. So don't expect anything too bad ass, okay?"

Katie nodded, not caring how good or bad Jessie was at Tae Kwon Do.  
She only cared about the fact that Jessie had asked her to go.

As soon as they got there, Jessie went to go change and Katie took a  
seat with all the other visitors. Jessie came back out wearing her  
uniform tied with her black belt and took her place on the mat, as  
the class lined up. Katie couldn't help but think how cute she  
looked. They bowed to their sensei and got into their fighting  
stances. Jessie, as disciplined as she was when it came to this,  
couldn't help but look back at Katie and smile. Katie sat straight  
up and returned Jessie's smile. She could feel herself blushing  
more than she had in her life.

The class went right to work practicing their kicks and punches in  
place. And finally, it came time to spar. The sensei called Jessie  
up to spar with some other guy around the same age. They began  
sparring and Katie was completely mesmerized. She was completely  
blown away by what Jessie was doing. The full force of her kicks  
and punches gave her a new found respect for Jessie. Just when she  
thought she couldn't be any more in love with her, she goes and  
does this. She was in awe of Jessie. Katie always saw Jessie at  
such a fragile girl. She couldn't believe this sweet, gentle girl  
was really so strong. While watching her, Katie almost couldn't  
control herself. She wanted to run up and just take Jessie right  
there. Take her in her arms and kiss her passionately and never let  
go. She almost couldn't handle this feeling that came over her.  
And she started tearing up thinking about how badly she wanted her  
best friend and how it would probably never happen.

The sparring was over, but Katie was still moved…and still crying.  
Jessie bowed to her partner and the sensei and casually looked back  
at Katie to make sure she had seen it all. Her heart sank when she  
saw Katie wiping tears away. At that moment, she wanted to run over  
to her and just hold onto her and tell her everything would be  
fine. Whatever it was, it would be okay. She knew she'd get into  
trouble with her sensei, but she didn't care. She ran over to  
Katie, grabbed her hand, and pulled her all the way over into the  
bathroom.

"What's wrong," asked Jessie.

"Nothing," Katie was trying desperately to stop the tears from  
falling. Jessie came up to her and as clichéd as she knew it was,  
began to help wipe her tears away. Jessie couldn't bare seeing  
Katie in pain. She couldn't take it anymore and just wrapped her  
arms around Katie, digging her face into Katie's shoulder, wanting  
to cry. The force of the hug was so powerful, she pushed Katie up  
against the door. Katie just melted into the hug, thanking God for  
giving her a reason to hold onto her friend. Katie grabbed Jessie  
even tighter, moving her hands down around Jessie's waist, and she  
sighed deeply. Jessie looked up into Katie's eyes. They stayed  
there, locked in each others' stare, just as they had done earlier.  
Jessie found herself completely lost in her friend's green eyes.

"Jess….I need to tell you something," said Katie.

Jessie snapped out of the trance she was in. She was ready to hear  
what her friend had to say.


	3. Chapter 3

Title: Breaking Me (it comes from a song I wrote. It's all i could  
think of) It's really not as dramatic as it sounds.  
Author: Breanna  
Feedback: Bring it on  
Disclaimer: I do not own any of these characters. If I did, they  
would still be on TV and we would have no need for fan fiction.  
Rated: PG to PG-13 for now. There's some language. 

They could hear the class being dismissed outside the bathroom door.  
People were going to try to come in.

"Maybe I should tell you later," said Katie, her eyes still red from  
crying.

"No. No, I wanna hear this. What's wrong?"

Katie began to feel uneasy knowing that these people are being  
dispersed and may try to come in. "Look, let's just go somewhere  
else and we'll talk, okay? You were awesome, by the way. I can't  
believe how amazing you were. And you were so not out of shape. You  
didn't even falter."

Jessie knew Katie was trying to change the subject. She nodded  
slightly. "Okay. Okay, we'll go somewhere else." She grabbed  
Katie's hand and led her out to the car. They got in the car and  
could feel the tension between them. Katie just sat at the wheel and  
didn't move.

"So…where do you want to go," asked Jessie.

"Um….I don't know. Maybe I should just take you home. We can talk  
tomorrow."

"Oh, no. We're doing this today. Katie, you were crying. I don't  
ever want to see that again. It broke my heart. You need to tell me  
what's going on." Jessie stopped the sentence short before she  
said "plus, I'm not ready to say goodbye to you today."

"Okay. Um…let me think."

Jessie could see the frustration in her friend's face. "Look, no one  
will be home for a while at my house. We'll go there. "

Katie nodded and started the engine. How was she going to do this?  
She decided to drive a little slower than usual. She wanted to put  
this off a little longer. She knew she couldn't hold it in any  
longer, but she didn't know this would happen so soon. So many  
things were going through her mind. She did not want to lose her  
best friend. I mean, how do you come back from this? Do friendships  
still last after something like this comes out?

Jessie was trying her best to read Katie. She kept thinking it was  
something she did. But now there was this new emotion coming to life  
inside of her. It hit her the moment she put her arms around Katie  
in the bathroom. She had hugged her friend so many times before,  
but for some reason, this was different. A million different  
emotions ran through her at that exact moment of contact, and when  
Katie ran her hands down her back, she knew right then what she was  
feeling. Jessie knew she was in love with Katie. It didn't even  
really come as a shock to her. She had always been in love with her,  
it just took until now for her to realize it. But what could she do  
about it? She didn't even think Katie would feel the same way and  
now she's obviously upset and probably doesn't even want to hang out  
with Jessie anymore. Jessie was nervous about what her friend was  
going to tell her, but she tried not to show it.

They pulled up to the Manning house and as they walked in, Jessie  
called out to see if anyone was home. No one was there.

"I think my dad and Lily are at dinner. Grace said she had some  
meeting to go to. And Eli has a gig. Come on. Let's go upstairs."

She led Katie up to the attic and closed the door behind them. They  
stood there in silence, just waiting for the other girl to speak.  
Jessie was looking at Katie, while Katie was looking at the ground.  
Jessie couldn't take the silence anymore.

"You're sick of me, aren't you," Jessie asked, point blank.

Katie looked up, almost horrified. "Oh, God. No. No, not at all.  
Is that what you think?"

"Well, yeah. I mean, I know we've been hanging out a lot and I just  
feel like maybe you've seen too much of me. I mean…" Jessie  
hesitated. "I don't even know why you hang out with me."

At that statement, Katie walked over to Jessie. "There will never be  
a day where I'll be sick of you. That's an impossibility. And I'm  
sorry you even thought that. And what's this shit about not knowing  
why I want to hang out with you?"

Jessie shrugged. "I don't' know. Why DO you hang out with me?"

"I thought it would be obvious," continued Katie. "I'm using you for  
your talent. I'm gonna ride your coattails, so that when you become  
a famous singer, I can be like, yeah, we're total bff's' and then I  
can get my acting career started, win all sorts of awards, have a  
ridiculous amount of fame and money, be interviewed for your behind  
the music special, and then forget all about you when I've got my  
three homes in L.A, New York, and London."

Leave it to Katie to keep her sense of humor at a time like this.  
Jessie couldn't help but laugh. "I KNEW it! You total whore."

Katie smiled. "Seriously, though. You amaze me, Jessie. I look  
forward to seeing you every day. You have no idea what you've done  
for me. I was lost. Completely lost before you came along. I just  
went through life not knowing who I was or where I was going. I had  
friends, but not really, you know? I mean, they're just people. And  
once we've graduated and go our separate ways, I'll probably never  
hear from them again until our 10-year reunion. And even then, I  
probably won't even go to that. But you. You're different. I want  
to know you forever. I want you in my life for as long as you'll  
have me in yours. With you, I'm not afraid to be myself. I don't  
have to pretend. I don't have to put on a fake smile, if I'm really  
upset. And you make me laugh. That's the most important thing on  
this planet. I never laugh more than when I'm with you. How could I  
NOT want to hang around with you?"

The most genuine smile Katie had ever seen sprawled across Jessie's  
beautiful face. Jessie closed her eyes and took in the compliment  
and breathed a sigh of relief. She felt as though her heart was  
going to explode. She knew that Katie would be her best friend for  
life. And the love she felt for her would have to be put on hold.  
She had no intention of ruining this friendship.

"I…I feel exactly the same way, Katie. You took the words right out  
of my mouth." She let her body do what her brain tried to fight and  
hugged her friend as tight as she could.

Katie felt she couldn't hold it back any longer. She wanted to take  
her chance and kiss Jessie right that moment. It would have been  
perfect. But she didn't take her chance. She couldn't. Not until  
she explained everything to Jessie. This wasn't fair to her. Katie  
broke away from the hug, leaving Jessie a little startled and  
confused.

"I'm sorry. It's just, I really need to tell you something."

"What is it?"

"Just promise me that this won't change our friendship, okay?  
Because you are the most important person I the world to me. And we  
can get through this, but I need you to not freak out."

"Okay, I swear I won't freak out. What is it?"

Katie took a deep breath and looked at Jessie's blue eyes. "I think  
I'm falling in love with you, Jessie. I've just had this feeling  
inside me from the moment we met and it never died down. It just  
grew bigger and bigger and I wanted it to go away because I knew you  
wouldn't feel the same way about me, but it didn't. It's still here,  
deep in the pit of my stomach. And it's been killing me just a  
little bit every day. Every time you take my hand, I don't know. I  
feel like I'm on air. And this whole thing has just been breaking  
me. And I know you probably think I'm crazy, but this is how I  
feel. I love you, Jessie."

Katie finally took a deep breath. She didn't stop for air when the  
words burst out of her mouth.

Jesse took a step back away from her friend. A look of disbelief  
came across her face and her mouth was open, but words just wouldn't  
come out. They stood there, in silence. Katie started tearing up,  
thinking she'd lost her best friend. The silence was more than she  
could endure.

"Jess, I'm so sorry. I'm sorry. I know I probably shouldn't have  
said anything, but I couldn't help it. When I saw you at your class  
today, I don't know….I just was completely drawn to you."

She waited for Jessie to respond. She heard nothing, but the  
cracking of the hardwood floor as she shifted her weight.

Jessie's mind was racing. Had she really just heard this? Her best  
friend was in love with her? Jessie had only just realized she  
herself was harboring feelings for Katie, so she wasn't quite  
expecting to hear this news so suddenly. She made a second attempt  
to speak, but again, those damn words would not come out. Katie  
tried for a response again.

"Okay. Okay, so just forget what I said. I mean, I know you  
can't "forget" it. But……"

Katie's ramblings were interrupted by Jessie's lips meeting hers,  
stifling anything what she was about to say next. Katie was caught  
off guard and it took her a moment to realize what was happening.  
Her heart began pounding as soon as she found herself in a warm,  
passionate kiss with the love of her life. Jessie sprang toward her  
with full force. The kiss was electric, sending chills down her  
spine. She eased up a bit and took her time to feel the softness of  
Katie's lips against hers. She came to life with Katie's lips on hers.  
Slowly, she parted Katie's lips with her tongue. Her brain wouldn't  
let her do any talking, so she did the next best thing. The one  
thing that had been on her mind for quite a while.


	4. Chapter 4

Title: Breaking Me (it comes from a song I wrote. It's all i could  
think of)  
Author: Breanna  
Feedback: Bring it on  
Disclaimer: I do not own any of these characters. If I did, they  
would still be on TV and we would have no need for fan fiction.  
Rated: PG-13 to R There's some language, a minor drug reference, and  
sexual situations.

Katie was submerged. She could barely breathe. She didn't know  
drowning could ever feel so good, but here she was sinking with  
Jessie. They fell into each other like a head-on collision, holding  
nothing back, they both gave everything they had to that kiss. All  
those moments of pent up longing and passion and pain and bliss were  
all released into that one unbelievable kiss. Katie could not get  
enough of Jessie. She guided Jessie backward and pushed her up  
against the wall. Without breaking the kiss, she took Jessie's arms  
and fervently brought them up to the wall, trapping her arms with  
her hands. Jessie had nowhere to go. And she didn't want to go  
anywhere. She was perfectly content staying right there, up against  
the wall with Katie discovering every inch of her mouth and lips.

Katie broke away from Jessie's mouth, only to move her lips down  
toward her neck. Jessie inhaled deeply and let out a sigh. She had  
no idea Katie's lips would feel so good against her skin. She  
wanted more of Katie, so she guided Katie's lips back to hers, which  
was no easy task, having only her head to move. As Katie came back  
for more, she slowly moved her hands down Jessie's arms and to her  
face, brushing her cheeks slightly. Her hands found their way down  
to her waist and she pulled Jessie in closer. There were so many  
things she wanted to say. The only words she could muster up  
were, "I love you."

Jessie lowered her arms and wrapped them around the other girl. She  
leaned in and slowly grazed her lips against Katie's neck, bringing  
her lips to Katie's ear. Katie felt an uncontrollable desire as she  
felt Jessie's warm breath against her ear as Jessie began to speak.

She whispered to Katie softly, "I don't know what this is. I don't  
know what we're doing. But I don't care. Whatever it is feels  
right. You feel right. I can't get enough of you, Katie. You're m  
y addiction."

The words were more than Katie could take. After all this time,  
after all those months of pining away for her best friend, she  
finally had her in her arms whispering those amazing words. At that  
moment, Katie could see her entire life coming to her in flashes,  
but every vision was blurry. The only clear image she had was  
Jessie's face, from the moment she met her until now. And she  
realized that THIS is where life gets good. All that agony and  
suffering she endured was all completely worth it because it all led  
up to this moment. Katie closed her eyes and rested her head on  
Jessie's shoulder.

She whispered to Jessie, "I never thought I could love someone so  
much. I never knew my heart was capable of holding this much  
passion for one person. I know you're the one for me, Jessie. And,  
though all this may not make sense to you now, I hope some day it  
will."

Jessie smiled at Katie, tears welling up in her eyes. "I want you,"  
was all she could choke out. Jessie felt a fire consume her entire  
body. She was unsure of so many things, but the one thing she knew  
for sure was that she needed Katie more than she needed anyone in  
her life. She pulled herself away from the wall, took Katie's hand  
and led her over to the bed. They stayed standing there as Jessie  
brought her in for another kiss, her lips gently grazing Katie's at  
first, then pressing harder, trying to drink in every part of  
Katie. Katie's hands found their way under Jessie's shirt as she  
felt Jessie's soft skin with her hands. They explored every inch of  
her back, ribcage, and found their way to Jessie's flat stomach.

The sensation of Katie's hands on her became too much for Jessie and  
she took her friend and slowly lowered her onto the bed. She  
tenderly climbed on top of Katie, with one leg on each side of her.  
And before she could talk herself out of it, her instincts led her  
to remove her shirt with one fell swoop. Before Katie could even  
react to that, Jessie quickly removed her bra as well. There she  
was on top of Katie, half naked and trembling from nervousness.  
Katie's innocent green eyes grew wide and her mouth fell slightly  
open. She was speechless. She lay there, just staring up at  
Jessie, trying to trap this moment into her memory so she could  
remember it forever. Jessie lowered herself and allowed her lips  
to meet Katie's once more. Katie gladly accepted the kiss while  
stroking Jessie's back. Jessie moved her lips down to Katie's neck  
and soothingly kissed every inch of it, rubbing her tongue along her  
skin. Jessie boldly grabbed at Katie's shirt and pulled it off over  
her head. Her bra came off soon after and Jessie just looked Katie  
over, breathing her in. The two girls gazed at each other adoringly  
as Katie reached for Jessie's hand. Both girls were trembling  
fiercely as their hands intertwined.

The two girls just held on to one another, trying to calm each other  
down. They clasped each other tight knowing exactly what they  
wanted to do, but neither one knew how to instigate it. Finally,  
Katie leisurely moved over and lay Jessie on her back. She was now  
on top of her. Jessie immediately pulled Katie down to her, needing  
to touch her, not wanting to break contact. She whispered to  
Katie, "Leave your taste on my tongue." At that, Katie kissed  
Jessie with every amount of passion she had inside of her, using her  
tongue to explore Jessie's. Her right hand traveled up from  
Jessie's stomach to her breast. Jessie whimpered in pure bliss and  
let her body experience every feeling of pleasure it had to offer.  
Katie then guided her hand down to Jessie's jeans and began  
unbuttoning them. She could hear Jessie's breathing get deeper and  
deeper as she started to slide her jeans off.

At that moment, there was a knock at Jessie's door. The door opened  
and someone began walking up the stairs.

"Oh my God," Jessie exclaimed as she shot up. Katie was two steps  
ahead of her, already frantically putting her shirt back on. Jessie  
was frozen like a deer in the headlights as the footsteps were  
almost at the top of the stairs. Katie grabbed the first thing she  
could find, a red sweat jacket, and threw it around Jessie, pulling  
her arms through and zipping it up just in time to hear Grace  
say, "Jessie, my mom says we're on our own for dinner. What do you  
want on your pizza……Oh, hi Katie."

"Hey Grace," replied Katie, coolly.

Grace looked quizzically at Jessie who finally snapped out of her  
heavenly stupor.

"Oh…Grace. Hi. I um……what?"

"I said what do you want on your pizza?"

"Um….olives?"

"Is that a question or a statement," asked Grace.

"Olives," Jessie assured her.

"Okay, Katie what about you? Are you staying for dinner?"

"Sure. I like ham and pineapple, but anything is fine with me,"  
replied Katie.

"Okay," Grace looked at Jessie again. "Jessie, are you okay?"

"Olives," Jessie replied. Apparently, that's the only word she knew  
at the moment.

"Yeah, I got that. I mean, you don't look so good. Is there  
anything I can get you," Grace actually looked concerned for her  
step-sister.

"Um….I……olives?" Jessie

Katie had to help her friend out. "Yeah, olives sound really good  
right now. You wanna fetch us some, Grace, while we're waiting for  
the pizza? I like the black ones, but if all you have is green,  
then that's okay."

Grace rolled her eyes. "Are you guys getting stoned in here? Cuz  
if you are, let me tell you…it's really overrated." Grace couldn't  
help but smile remembering that night she and Eli sparked up their  
own little doobie.

Jessie was finally able to get a grip on reality. She thought for  
sure they had been caught in the act, but it seems Grace didn't see  
anything. "No, we're not high. We're just kidding with you."

"Okay. Then I guess I'll just order the pizza's now," replied Grace.

"You may want to order Katie her own large pizza. She needs an  
appetizer before she eats again 20 minutes later," joked Jessie, now  
feeling more at ease.

Katie shot her a look and rolled her eyes. "Very funny."

Grace shook her head. Her step-sister tried so hard to match  
Katie's wit, but was definitely not successful with that one. She  
looked at Jessie, then at Katie, then back to Jessie again. She had  
her assumptions about what was going on, but didn't want to jump to  
any conclusions about why they were both so red-faced and  
disheveled. She grinned as if she knew something they didn't know,  
and went downstairs to order the pizza.

"Holy shit, that was close," exclaimed Katie.

"Yeah, just a little bit."

"You freaked out on me. Are you okay?"

"I panicked, but yes. I'm much better now," replied Jessie, as she  
put her arms around Katie once more. "Thanks for the jacket."

Katie smiled, her heart still pounding from the intense moments they  
just experienced. They stood there, staring at each other.

"So, um….what's gonna happen tomorrow," asked Katie. "I mean at  
school. I mean….this was okay, right? What happened with us?  
You're okay with it, aren't you?"

"Yeah, of course I am. The only thing I'm not okay with was Grace  
killing the mood a little bit. But as for tomorrow….I don't know.  
I mean, let's just play it by ear. You're still my best friend, of  
course…but maybe it should appear that we're just friends for right  
now. Just at school, until we figure this whole thing out."

Katie nodded, slightly relieved. She wasn't quite ready to deal  
with what the rest of the world would have to say about this. But  
tomorrow was gonna be one hell of a school day.

To Be Continued…


	5. Chapter 5

Title: Breaking Me  
Author: Breanna  
Disclaimer: I do not own any of these characters. If i did, they  
would still be on the air and we would have no need for fan fiction.  
Rating: PG - PG-13

Jessie awoke to the sound of her alarm screeching in her ear. She  
reached over to shut it off, and rolled back into her bed. Why was  
she so tired? Then it hit her. The events that took place last  
night. Oh my God, Jessie thought. All the memories from last night  
came rushing back to her. Katie hadn't left until 2 in the  
morning. They had spent the rest of the night just talking and  
laughing. It was a good night. When Katie left, they shared a  
quick kiss goodbye when no one was around. Jessie went to bed  
elated. But today was different. It was a new day. It was morning  
and she had an unsettling feeling in the pit of her stomach. She  
wasn't quite sure what it was, but as each flash from the night  
before came to her, she grew more and more uneasy. What had she  
done? She had no idea what had come over her last night. She stood  
there, watching Katie crying and pouring her heart out to her. No  
one had ever done that to Jessie before. No one had ever trusted  
her enough to bare their entire soul to her. But now things look a  
little different. What did this mean? What was going to happen to  
their friendship? The last thing in the world she wanted was to have  
their friendship ruined. These thoughts became too much for Jessie  
and she got up and got ready for school. She found herself looking  
forward to seeing Katie, and yet, she was afraid at the same time.  
She wondered if Katie was having these thoughts as well.

The car ride was rather silent, as usual. Jessie sat staring out  
the window while Grace was finding something decent to listen to on  
the radio while trying to concentrate on her driving at the same  
time. She stopped on particular station playing one incredibly loud  
song.

Jessie reacted, "What is this crap?"

Grace replied, "I think it's Marilyn Manson's new song."

"Ewww...well it's horrible. It sucks. Turn this shit off."

Grace obliged, noticing something was obviously different about  
Jessie. One minute Jessie was smiling to herself, grinning as if  
she had a secret. The next, she looked worried and completely  
confused. The next minute, she'd appear indifferent.

"You okay," asked Grace.

"I'm fine."

"You seem really lost in your thoughts….more so than usual."

"I'm fine," repeated Jessie.

Grace thought for a minute and then said, "You know, this thing with  
Katie. It's not a bad thing."  
Jessie looked at Grace. "What thing with Katie?"

Grace replied, "Oh Jessie. Come on. Last night? I'm not blind or  
stupid, contrary to what you may believe. It was written all over  
your face. Katie was able to hide it a little better than you, but  
it was obvious. Something happened between you two last night,  
didn't it?"

Jessie stared at Grace in disbelief. She really didn't give her  
stepsister enough credit. "I…..I….don't know what you're talking  
about. We were just…..hanging out."

Grace could see Jessie was growing uncomfortable, so she just  
dropped it.

They finally arrived at school and Jessie walked to her locker. She  
had one goal for right now: get to her locker and get to class  
without seeing Katie. It was quite different from her normal goal:  
find Katie as soon as possible and put off class for as long as she  
can so she can hang out with her best friend. She successfully made  
it to her locker and grabbed her books. She turned her head to see  
Katie coming around the corner. She was smiling inside. Seeing  
Katie always made her happy. But she couldn't allow herself to be  
happy at that moment. Not now. At that, she closed her locker and  
took off in the other direction.

"Jessie!" yelled the other girl.

Jessie heard her. She did, but she just kept going. Katie watched  
her friend continue walking and then Jessie stopped. Dammit.' She  
thought. Her class is in the other direction. Well now I'm gonna  
look monumentally stupid.' She had a tendency to do stupid things  
like walk in the wrong direction when she was nervous about  
something. Jessie turned around and started walking back toward  
Katie. Katie smiled. God, that smile. Jessie had come to know and  
love that smile. She knew that that smile was only reserved for  
her. She'd never seen anyone who was able to make Katie grin like  
that. Only Jessie was able to. She had almost reached where Katie  
was standing.

"Did you go the wrong way again, Jess?" Asked Katie.

"Yup," replied Jessie, with an uneasy smile. She kept walking. "See  
ya," she yelled as she started jogging to class.

"Okay…see ya," replied Katie, unsure of why her friend was acting  
this way. She knew something was wrong when Jessie walked in the  
wrong direction.

A few minutes later, Katie was sitting in her Civics class, not able  
to concentrate on anything, of course. How the hell was she able to  
pull all A's? She never pays attention in class. She sat, uneasy  
and unsure of what to do. Obviously Jessie was freaking out about  
last night and all she wanted to do was help her. She wanted to  
calm her fears and tell her everything would be okay. But would  
it? Katie raised her hand.

"Miss Singer?"

"Can I have the hall pass? I have to use the bathroom."

"Fine," replied the teacher.

Katie grabbed the pass and ran off. She knew exactly where she was  
going. Jessie had English at this time. Room 202. She made her way  
down the corridor until she reached Jessie's class room. The door  
was open and Katie could see they were reading silently to  
themselves. Katie peaked her head in to try to get Jessie's  
attention. She had to catch her breath as she saw the blonde girl  
resting her head on her hand, not even paying attention to the  
book. She was staring off into space. Katie couldn't help but  
smile thinking how beautiful she was at that exact moment.

Jessie sensed someone was watching her and looked up to see Katie in  
the doorway, beckoning to her. She smiled to herself. Katie had  
come to rescue her from this unbelievably boring class. At that  
moment, Jessie caught herself. Why was she smiling? She shouldn't  
be glad to see Katie. She should be nervous. I mean, after last  
night….'Oh hell,' she thought. She walked up to the teacher and  
asked to use the hall pass and joined Katie outside.

"I thought I'd take a walk. For some reason, my feet led me here,"  
said Katie.

Jessie smiled. "Your feet are very intuitive."

Katie grabbed Jessie's hand. "Come on." They started running down  
the hallway and went into the girl's bathroom.

Katie stood there, looking Jessie over. She wanted nothing more  
than to kiss her at that exact moment. But that would have to  
wait. Jessie obviously had something on her mind. Silence has  
played a big part in their relationship in the last two days. Both  
girls had so much to say, but neither one wanted to speak first.

"So…you like……stuff?" asked Katie, jokingly.

Jessie smiled anxiously.

Katie could see that her sense of humor was not working in her favor  
at this moment. She was more nervous right now than she had been  
yesterday when she revealed her true feelings for Jessie. Perhaps  
because now, everything was so real. It was reality sinking in.  
How could she think it would be that easy? That she could confess  
her love for her best friend and all would be well.

"Look, something's obviously wrong," stated Katie. "What is it?  
You know I'm here for you, Jess. You can tell me anything."

Jessie paused a moment. She could feel her heart beating through  
her chest.

"I just….I don't know. I don't know what's wrong."

"It's about last night, isn't it," asked Katie.

Jessie nodded. Katie came up to her and put her hand on Jessie's  
shoulder. Jessie flinched at the contact, causing Katie to pull her  
hand away, feeling slightly rejected.

Jessie felt horrible. "I'm sorry. I just….I'm sorry." She came up  
to Katie and wanted to take her hand, but resisted. She had no idea  
what she was feeling and didn't want to lead Katie on at that  
moment. "I didn't think it would be this weird today, you know?"

"It doesn't have to be weird," replied Katie. "I'm still your best  
friend, Jessie. Aren't I? I mean, that's the most important  
thing." God, it was all Katie could do to keep from seizing Jessie  
into her arms.

"I know," replied Jessie. By this point, Jessie was inches away  
from Katie's face. Something was just pulling her there. They were  
not touching, but God, Jessie wanted to take wrap her arms around  
her so badly.

Katie leaned in and whispered, "I know last night was confusing for  
you. It was for me, too. But I've never felt that way before. I  
mean, I was alive. For the first time in my life, I felt like I fit  
in somewhere….with you."

Jessie smiled, feeling a little better about the situation. For  
some reason, Katie always seemed to make things better. Maybe it  
was just when she wasn't around Katie that she was feeling  
regretful, because at that moment, she knew that if she had it to do  
all over again, she wouldn't have changed a thing about last night.  
She gazed into Katie's eyes and felt completely relaxed. She felt  
like she was home. Katie became a little daring and wrapped her  
arms around her friend and just held her.

"I know you're bewildered right now. But I've got you. I won't let  
you get lost, I promise," Katie said to her.

Jessie buried her head in Katie's neck and wanted to stay there  
forever. What had she been so afraid of? This was right. This was  
so right. She cursed her herself for letting her brain go against  
her own heart. She knew at that moment she had to have Katie.  
Jessie pulled her friend in for a kiss. The first one they'd shared  
in the last 10 hours. It felt just as good as it had before. Their  
lips softly touching, neither of them wanting to pull away. They  
were lost in each other and neither of them remembered where they  
were at that moment. All they knew was their lips had found each  
other again.

Suddenly, the door swung open and Jessie quickly pulled away from  
their embrace. Katie turned around to see who would dare intrude on  
such a perfect moment. It was Erin Lewis. A sophomore in Jessie's  
English class.

"Um….Jessie? You're presence is kindly requested back in class,"  
she said. "You've been in here for a while."

"Yeah. Okay, I'll be right there."

Erin nodded and left. She had not seen what had just happened.  
Katie went to put her arm around Jessie, but Jessie back away.

"I really should get back to class," she said while starting to walk  
out.

"Okay," said Katie, disappointed.

Jessie stopped in her tracks, thought for a minute and turned to  
face Katie. "I don't think I can do this."

"What do you mean?" asked Katie.

"I mean….I shouldn't have to be scared that someone's gonna walk in  
on us like that, you know? I just don't if I can be with you  
without wanting to tell the world. Does that make sense?"

"So let's tell them," said Katie, knowing that was definitely not  
the answer and not gonna happen anytime soon.

"I can't. Not right now. I'm sorry. I just don't think this can  
happen again." What the hell was she doing? What was she saying?  
Jessie herself almost couldn't believe what was coming out of her  
mouth. Is this really what she wanted?

Katie felt the tears well up in her eyes. She had done so much  
crying in the last few days, she tried to fight the tears for  
Jessie's sake. She didn't want to argue with her friend. She knew  
how confused and scared she was. Hell, Katie was feeling the same  
way, but she wanted to be strong for Jessie.

She feebly responded, "Okay. Whatever makes you happy. That's all  
I care about." Katie lived to make Jessie happy.

Jessie ran up to Katie and gave her a hug. Neither of them wanted  
to let go, but Katie pulled away knowing that if she didn't let go  
now, she would never have let her go. Jessie headed out the door.

"So…I'll see you at lunch?" she asked Katie, awkwardly.

Katie smiled and nodded and as the door closed on her, she finally  
let the tears out.

To be continued…..I'll try not to make the next part too dramatic.


	6. Chapter 6

Title: Breaking Me  
Author: Breanna  
Feedback: Bring it on  
Disclaimer: I do not own any of these characters. If I did, they  
would still be on TV and we would have no need for fan fiction.  
Rated: PG to PG-13 for now.

Summary: Read the first 5 parts to get caught up. In the last  
chapter, the girls met up the next day at school after an intense  
night. Jessie expressed her concerns about the situation to Katie  
and things were left up in the air.

So we continue...

Lunch time was a bit of a struggle for Jessie today. She wasn't hungry, just couldn't eat a bite, but she just knew someone would take notice of it, especially if Grace decided to join them, which is something she did from time to time when her own friends were M.I.A. She felt awful about her rendezvous in the bathroom with Katie just a couple hours earlier. She sat there picking at her food looking somewhat depressed. Sure enough, Grace decides to sit down across from her. Jessie made no acknowledgement of her stepsister.

"Jessie, you're not eating," said Grace matter-of-factly.

Jessie looked at Grace with disdain. "You're right. Maybe you should go call my dad, let him know that for one lunch period, I've relapsed. Did it ever occur to you that maybe I'm just not hungry?"

Grace looked down at her food. She meant nothing by it. Man, Jessie could be real bitchy sometimes.

From across the cafeteria, Katie spotted Jessie and Grace. She took a deep breath and walked towards their table. She looked down at Jessie, almost as though she was asking permission to sit next to her. Jessie looked up and smiled. The invitation was extended and accepted. Katie sat down and began picking at her food Jessie style. This did not go unnoticed by Grace.

"What's with you guys today? Too many olives last night?" Grace joked with them. They both shot her a look. Grace backed down. "Geez, tough crowd."

Katie decided to break the ice. "So how was gym class, Jess?"

"Oh, it was okay. Kind of boring."

The silence took hold of them once more and the friction between the two was almost unbearable to Grace. She almost got up to leave until she heard a familiar voice.

"Man, I swear I thought I was going to pass out in Trig today," said Tad as he plopped his tray down on the table, seemingly unaware of the tension mounting between the girls across from him. He began inhaling his food and continued talking, with his mouth full of course. "I'm glad it's finally lunch time. I'm starved."

Grace was relieved to have someone else there to ease the pressure of having to come up with topics of conversation.

Katie looked at Jessie, searching for some sign that her friend was still there. Jessie continued looking down at her food and decided to open her can of Coca Cola.

Tad looked at the two girls, finally sensing that something must have been going on. They're not their usual, silly, talkative schoolgirl selves. With his mouth still full of food, he asked, "What's up with you guys? Have a long night last night?"

Jessie was startled by the question and unconsciously knocked her soda over and it landed all over her. She jumped up and started to wipe it off, but it was everywhere: all over her shirt and pants. 'Of course,' thought Jessie. 'Of course I would do this.'

"Smooth move," Tad teased. Grace elbowed him in the ribs. "Ow! What was that for?"

Katie instinctively grabbed a bunch of napkins and began helping her friend clean the soda off her clothes. She dabbed the napkins on her shirt, trying to soak up as much of the sticky drink as she could. Without thinking, she moved the napkins down to Jessie's jeans, which were starting to soak through. She suddenly realized what she was doing and looked up at Jessie. Jessie's eyes met hers and they remained fixed on each other. Both had stopped trying to clean up the mess. Katie was touching Jessie. And Jessie liked it. Sure, she was soaking wet and covered in soda, but it didn't matter. She felt nothing but Katie's hand on her thigh. The sensation was warm and inviting. Her eyes simply could not look away from Katie's. Finally, Katie broke out of her daze and took her hand off of Jessie's thigh.

"Sorry," she said, as she threw the napkin down on the table.

"It's okay. Thanks for your help."

Tad looked at both of them as if they were insane, completely clueless as to what could possibly be going on with them. What WAS that? Grace couldn't help but smile at the tender moment she just witnessed.

"Seriously, you must have had a long night. I think you girls need more sleep," said Tad, oblivious.

Both girls looked over at Tad, incensed. Jessie started turning red from embarrassment.

"Um….I think I should run to the bathroom to try to clean this up." Jessie began to get up and gather her stuff. "Katie, you coming?"

Katie looked at Grace and Tad and shrugged. "A friend's work is never done." She gathered her books and walked off with Jessie.

Grace immediately smacked Tad on the back of the head. "Way to go."

Tad flinched forward. "Ow…what did do?"

Grace shook her head and mumbled, "Idiot."

Katie and Jessie found themselves in the bathroom once more. Katie had managed to block the door with a trashcan so no one would come in. She didn't want Jessie to be embarrassed about her mess. She leaned Jessie over the sink to try to get her shirt clean.

"It's not coming out. And I'm gonna look like I've been sweating all day," said Jessie. She was always so sensitive about what other people thought of her. Katie looked at Jessie and thought for a minute.

"Here," said Katie, as she took off her sweater. She had a small green t-shirt on underneath. Jessie watched Katie remove her sweater; watched her hips move flawlessly as the sweater came off up over her torso; watched her long, thin arms pull themselves out of the sleeves. She was mesmerized. Once the sweater was off, Katie rested it on the other sink. She then impulsively went to take off Jessie's shirt. At that moment, Jessie pulled back. All of a sudden, Katie realized why her friend was so apprehensive.

"Oh, God. I'm so sorry, Jessie. I didn't mean anything by it. I was just gonna give you my sweater so you don't have to wear your shirt anymore. Here…" She grabbed the sweater and handed it to the other girl, and then turned around. "Go ahead and change. I swear I won't look." Katie was dying inside. Her friend had lost trust in her. She didn't even trust her enough to change in front of her, which she had done before several times. (Always with a bra on, of course). Meanwhile, Jessie felt so guilty. Why was she so bothered by this? I mean, it was just last night when she was laying topless with Katie and now she didn't even want Katie to see her change her shirt? She felt as though she had created a crawl space underneath her all-time low.

"No, it's okay. I'm sorry. It was just a reflex," said Jessie, as she removed her soda-stained shirt and replaced it with Katie's sweater. She took a deep breath as the sweater came over her head, inhaling Katie's scent. It was the best smell in the world. She felt safe wearing Katie's sweater. And since she was somewhat taller than Jessie, the sweater came down far enough to cover the stain on her jeans. "You can turn around now. It's okay."

Katie turned around and smirked. She loved seeing Jessie in her clothes. She looked so cute. She shuddered a bit from the cold. Jessie noticed this and right away felt bad and yet totally grateful for Katie's kindness giving her the sweater. She didn't even think about the fact that Katie might be freezing. She swallowed whatever fear she had at that moment, took her friend's hand, and pulled her into her. Jessie's other hand was wrapped around Katie's waist. After a kind act like that, how could she not fall in love with Katie? She found herself completely unable to resist the abundant charms of her friend and slowly leaned in. Katie's heart was racing, waiting urgently for Jessie's lips, once again. Out of the blue, they heard the shrill sound of the bell ringing. Time to get back to class. Jessie lowered her head, partly disappointed, partly relieved. Katie sighed. It's just her luck that something so innocuous as a bell would keep her from getting what she wanted. Jessie grabbed her backpack and shoved her shirt in it.

"I guess we should get to class," she said while putting her backpack on. "But I'll try to call you tonight, okay?"

"Okay. Um, are you going to your Tae Kwon Do class today?" Katie felt so pathetic. She'd do or say anything just to keep Jessie with her a little longer.

"Actually, I was planning on going back on Thursday. I'm still kind of sore from yesterday."

"Oh…" replied Katie, slightly disappointed. She'd been wanting to go back and cheer Jessie on. "Okay, well. I'll talk to you later."

"Okay." Jessie was still flustered by the moment they just shared. They left the bathroom and went their separate ways. Katie went left, Jessie went right. Katie noticed the presence that was once beside her was no longer there. She stopped, turned around and saw Jessie walking away from her. She grinned and leaned up against the lockers, just waiting. She saw Jessie stop in her tracks. Jessie turned around and started walking toward Katie, trying to hide her embarrassment.

"My class is this way…" Jessie stated, as she walked past Katie.

"I know," Katie laughed. "Hopefully you can find it. Remember: History, room 114."

After a long day, Jessie was actually glad to finally be home. As soon as she walked in the door, then ran right upstairs to her room in the attic and plopped down on her bed. She lay there on her back just thinking. Thinking of Katie, of course. Thinking of how badly she wanted to call her, how badly she wanted her to come over, yet how scared she was of everything she was feeling. Everything was just happening way too fast. She'd never felt such electricity with someone before. She thought about how undeniably sweet and thoughtful Katie was and how she had made Jessie happier than she had ever been. Jessie couldn't help but think she being incredibly selfish about everything. But she didn't know what to do. Everything was changing around her. She fell asleep with all these thoughts swarming around in her head.

Jessie woke up, groggy and unsure of how long she'd been asleep. She looked at the clock: 10:36pm. She had slept for about 6 hours straight! She came downstairs and found her dad and Lilly sitting on the couch watching TV.

"Hey, Jessie. Finally decided to join the living world?" said Rick.

"Yeah, I guess I didn't realize how tired I was," replied Jessie.

"Well, we saved you some dinner. Grace tried to wake you up, but apparently you wouldn't budge," said Lilly.

"Okay, thanks." Jessie headed into the kitchen. She was starved, seeing as how she didn't really eat lunch. She heated up the leftover food and sat at the table.

"Is your homework done?" yelled Rick from the next room.

"Yeah!" Jessie did her homework during the last period of the day.

Jessie sat there, pretty much unable to swallow her food. She had too much on her mind, and while she was hungry, the butterflies in her stomach were preventing her from eating. She choked down the last of the food and went back upstairs.

"Goodnight," she said to Lilly and Rick as she headed up the stairs.

"Goodnight, Jessie," replied Lilly. "Get some rest."

But Jessie had something else in mind. She got up to the attic and grabbed Katie's sweater and her cell phone.

Meanwhile, Katie was at her house, sitting on her floor with her back against her bed. Billie Holiday playing on computer, quietly enough so as not to wake her parents. She picked up her cell phone and thought about calling Jessie, just as she had considered doing 20 minutes ago, and an hour before that and an hour before that. She went to put the phone back down, when all of a sudden, it rang.

"Hello?"

"Hey," replied Jessie.

"Oh…hey Billie."

Silence.

"So, um…do you hate me?" continued Katie, timidly.

"No! No, not at all. Why would I call you if I---"

"Cuz I hadn't heard from you all night and you said you were going to call. Or, well, maybe you said you'd TRY to call, but was going crazy thinking you were mad at me and so I thought I'd give you time to…..oh God. I'm talking too much. I'm sorry. I sound like some crazy stalker, but I swear I'm not. I'm just worried about you."

Jessie couldn't take it anymore. She missed her friend so badly. "I know you worry. I'm sorry I didn't call until now. I fell asleep."

Katie paused, and thought carefully about what she was going to say. "I miss you."

Jessie smiled, "I miss you too, Katie."

"I kinda wish I could see you right now."

"Now? It's like 11 at night," said Jessie.

"I know. I just miss my best friend."

Jessie could feel the nervousness running through her entire body. She paused for a minute and then said, "Okay. Well, come outside."

Katie wasn't quite sure what she heard. "What?"

"Come outside," insisted Jessie.

Katie's heart began to beat out of her chest. She jumped up and ran to the window. She peered outside to see Jessie on her cell phone waving from the front yard. Katie laughed and ran outside as fast as she could. Jessie hung up the phone and smiled as she saw Katie running out to greet her.

"Hey!" Yelled Katie as she came up to Jessie, stopping short of knocking her over. Jessie was a little disappointed that she wasn't greeted by a hug, but she understood that, by the way she behaved earlier that day, Katie would be wary of her actions. "What are you doing here?" asked Katie.

"I just thought I'd return your sweater," Jessie gave her friend a little grin.

"Well, how thoughtful of you. Do your parents know you're here?"

"Of course not. Which means I should probably head back. But I just wanted to say thanks…for the sweater. You really are a great friend, but so much more, you know? We're kindred spirits, you and I…." Jessie trailed off. She was taken aback by Katie's beauty. It was dark outside, but the streetlight showed enough of Katie's face to take Jessie's breath away. For a moment, she stood there, just staring; forgetting anything she was just about to say. Katie knew what Jessie was feeling. And she was feeling the same way. They stood there, just grinning at each other. This was their secret. What they had shared the night before, only they knew what happened between them.

Katie just remembered something. "Oh, before I forget. Tad found me after school and said that Brian's having a party Friday night. He asked if we wanted to go."

"Sure. Sounds good. I mean, I'll have to ask my parents, but I'm sure it'll be fine."

"Okay, I'll let him know." Katie had to stop the force of her body from grabbing Jessie and hugging her. They were once again inches away from each other. Katie sighed. The last thing she wanted was for her friend to get into trouble. "You better go. I don't want your parents finding you snuck out. Then you definitely won't be able to go to the party."

Jessie nodded. "Okay." She went in to hug Katie. Katie just fell into it, feeling every part of Jessie, taking in her touch, her smell, everything. A kiss would have been perfect at this moment, but it would have to wait. Jessie's head seemed to be getting clearer about what she wanted and Katie didn't want do anything to dissuade that. Jessie wanted the kiss just as badly, but instead, she pulled away and started making her way back home.

"I'll see you tomorrow!" she yelled to Katie.

Katie waved, watching the love of her life fade out of sight. She felt a little better about the situation, but there was still some uneasiness. She was grateful that there was a party on Friday. It had already been one hell of a week and she would definitely need to unwind.

To be continued…


	7. Chapter 7

The last three days seemed to go by at a snail's pace for Katie. She and Jessie were both very guarded about their emotions over what had happened between them. Jessie had wanted to talk to Katie about it, but was too afraid. Things weren't as awkward between them, and she didn't want to change that. There were moments when she wanted to throw all her doubts away and just hold onto Katie and kiss her and not stop until they were sick of it, which would never happen. How could they get sick of such a thing? But no. She couldn't do that. She had decided that for now, they were better off as friends. Things were starting to get back to normal. Katie even came to watch Jessie's Tae Kwon Do class again yesterday. It was good to not have to deal with that drama for a while. Plus, Katie didn't seem to want to talk about it, either. Maybe she felt the same way.

But she didn't. Katie still wanted Jessie but wouldn't dare tell her. She already sacrificed too much of herself by telling her all that stuff in the first place. And she almost lost Jessie's friendship. She still longed for her friend's touch, but would have pine away for her secretly.

School was just letting out and Jessie met up with Katie at her locker.

"So, you're picking me up at seven, right?" asked Jessie.

"No, I'm thinking I'm gonna have you walk there. It'll be good for you. It builds character," replied Katie.

"Hey, I've got plenty of character. But sadly, what I seem to be lacking is something to wear."

"Oh please. You've got a closet full of stuff. I'm sure you'll find something," said Katie as she shut her locker and they headed out of the building. Grace was already in her car, waiting impatiently for Jessie. Actually getting Jessie into the car after school was always a challenge. She would constantly get caught up in her conversations with Katie.

"So remember, the party's not at Brian's house anymore. His parents decided not to go on their trip after all. So it's moved to Tad's since his parents pretty much don't care what goes on under their roof. They're hardly ever home, anyway." Katie somewhat envied Tad for that reason.

"Okay. I think my parents will be more comfortable with the fact that it's at Tad's anyway, since they know him," said Jessie. "I'll see you tonight."

Jessie got in the car and Katie began the trek to her car.

Grace had no idea what was going on with those two and let her curiosity get the best of her. "So…are you and Katie going to the party together?"

"Yeah. I mean….not "together" together, but you know…as friends. I mean, she's driving me. Why do you even care?"

"I was just wondering what was going on with you two," replied Grace.

"Nothing. There's NOTHING going on with us. Why do you keep saying that?"

"Jessie. You can trust me. I'm not gonna go blab to everyone about it. I do respect your privacy enough to not do that. I'm actually really happy for you. She seems to make you really happy. That's important. I mean, I've NEVER seen you like this before. You're actually….pleasant to be around…sometimes." Grace almost couldn't believe what she was saying, but it was true.

Jessie looked at Grace in disbelief. "Really?"

Grace nodded. "But I mean, hey, if you don't feel comfortable divulging information to me, I understand. I'm just trying to tell you I'm on your side. I think it's great. There are too many idiot's out there who are just hypocrites and I'm not one of them."

Jessie seriously took that comment to heart. She sure as hell wasn't gonna confess anything to Grace any time soon, but if the subject came up again, maybe she wouldn't exactly deny that something had happened.

Seven o'clock rolled around and the doorbell rang right on time. Lilly went to the door and found Katie on the other side of it wearing a skirt, a tank top, and a denim jacket. When Jessie came down the stairs, Katie couldn't take her eyes off of her. She looked beautiful. Jessie couldn't take her eyes off of Katie either. The two girls greeted each other with a slightly awkward hug. Katie didn't let herself put too much effort into it. If she had, Lilly would have had to pry them apart and then there would be a lot of explaining to do. No, thought Katie. She had to control herself. It seems Jessie just wants to be friends and that's the way it's going to be. Though, her heart still ached for Jessie more than ever.

"Is Grace going with you guys?" asked Lilly.

"No, she's driving herself there later, I think. She just got out of the shower a few minutes ago and I don't want to be waiting around for her forever," replied Jessie as she grabbed her jacket.

"Okay, well have fun. Be safe. And don't drink."

Jessie rolled her eyes. "Okay, okay. I know." And they were out the door.

They finally got to the party and Katie opened the door without knocking, as if she'd lived there for years. She looked around and said, "Wow, we must fashionably late because it seems the party has started without us."

There were several people there already, some dancing to the loud, thumping music. Others were talking with their friends or drinking from the beer keg.

"Hell no, the party hasn't started without you. That would be impossible. Katie, you ARE the party," yelled Tad as he came up and gave Katie a bear hug from behind. Jessie smiled, but really didn't know how she felt about Tad man-handling Katie like that. Katie laughed and pushed him off of her.

"Damn straight. Katie's here. Now we can get this party started!" yelled Brian as he rammed his shoulder into Tad.

"Hey Katie!" yelled some other guy Jessie had never seen before. He came up and gave Katie a high five. Some girl, who seemed to be his girlfriend came up with him.

"Katie! I haven't seen you in forever. How have you been?" She made her way over to Katie, unintentionally pushing Jessie out of the way. Jessie just stood there watching as everyone was fawning over her. Katie had always been popular. Everyone just loved her and this was proof. And Jessie found herself asking 'What does she see in me? Why does she hang out with me? I'll never be as popular as her.' She began to get a little depressed as Katie seemed to be getting lost in the crowd of people around her. As tall as she was, Katie found herself having to stand on her toes to look for Jessie. She spotted her, caught her eye and smiled.

"Excuse me everyone. Sorry. Excuse me." She began making her way through the crowd. "We'll talk later. For sure." She finally reached Jessie and let out a sigh. "You scared me. I thought I lost you for a minute."

Jessie tried to fake her best smile. "It's okay. I mean, if you want to hang with them, I'm okay with it. I'll just go get something to drink, or whatever." She started to walk off. Katie grabbed her arm.

"Uh…not without me, you're not. Come on. Let's stake our claim on the couch before someone else does. These shoes are killing my feet." Katie led Jessie over to the couch and they sat down.

When Grace showed up a half hour later, the girls were still on the couch, just talking and laughing and not paying attention to anyone around them. They were lost in each other, yet again. Tad spotted Grace and went up to say hi. His eyes followed where she was looking: Katie and Jessie.

"Oh yeah. Those two have been there for a while just talking. You'd think even at a party they'd branch out and mingle with other people," noted Tad.

Grace just smiled. "Ah, leave 'em alone. Come on. Show me where the food is. I'm starved." She led Tad away into the kitchen.

After about an hour of being lost in conversation with each other, Jessie excused herself to use the restroom. Tad saw that Katie was Jessie-free for the time being and decided to take this opportunity to finally have a chat with his friend.

"Awww…did Jessie leave you all alone? How is your brain going to function?" He taunted.

"Very funny, Tad."

"Well, since I have you alone for a minute, did you want to dance? You're ass must be asleep by now." Tad reached his hand out to Katie.

Katie laughed. "Good point. All right, let's go." She took Tad's hand and led him over to where everyone was dancing, but stayed close enough to the couch so she could see when Jessie got back from the bathroom.

Katie was goofing around with Tad while they were dancing until this one song came on. The song that Katie couldn't resist dancing to, no matter where she was or how ridiculous she looked. The Def Leppard Song: Pour Some Sugar On Me. As soon as she heard those first lyrics: "Love is like a bomb…." she let the song take over her. "Finally some good music!" She yelled. And she wished Jessie would come back soon so she could dance all goofy-like with her. Tad was having fun just laughing at Katie's spastic moves. Katie could be a good dancer if she wanted to be, but now was not the time. Not during Def Leppard. She busted out all the classic moves: the cabbage patch, the running man, even the frug made an appearance. Katie loved making herself laugh. Besides hanging with Jessie and making Jessie laugh, it was her favorite pastime.

Jessie came out of the bathroom and saw that Katie was not longer at the couch. She looked over and saw her dancing….or rather gyrating spastically on the dance floor and she couldn't help but crack up. She stood there just enjoying the view. She couldn't get over how amazing Katie was. Katie looked over and saw Jessie watching her. She waved her over to dance with them and Jessie just shyly shook her head. The song changed and it was now a slow song. Jessie sat back on the couch, just content with watching her best friend moving around to the music. Katie started moving slowly with the music and she had Jessie enthralled. Jessie observed as Katie's hips started swaying, her legs moving seductively as her arms ran up through her hair and back down again. Jessie couldn't take her eyes off of her. It was just like when Katie couldn't stop watching Jessie at her Tae Kwon Do class. Jessie was addicted to every move Katie made. Katie looked over at Jessie and smiled. Jessie took a moment to find her breath again. She had forgotten to breathe. Katie kept dancing as Tad came up behind her and put his arms around her waist and moved with her. He slid his arms up and down Katie's sides and rested his chin on her shoulder, almost nuzzling her.

When Jessie realized what she was seeing, her heart sank. What was this feeling coming over her? Why did she have this knot inside her stomach? Why did she want to run up and give Tad a round kick to the head? She knew Tad and Katie were just friends. Why would she care if they were dancing together? Jealousy. Jessie had felt this feeling once before. It was not a fun feeling. But why was she so jealous? 'Oh fuck it! Stop thinking so much, Jessie!' At that, she ran up to Katie and Tad and grabbed Katie by the hand.

"Sorry, Katie. I need to borrow you for a minute. Sorry Tad, girl stuff." Jessie pulled Katie away from Tad and kept pulling her until they got up the stairs. Tad was left incredibly confused, but has learned not to question anything those two girls do. After all, they were insane.

Jessie pulled Katie through a slew of people and went into the first open bedroom she could find. She hauled Katie into the room and closed the door. She stood there not knowing what to do next. Katie stood there with her eyes fixated on Jessie, not sure of what had gotten into her friend.

"Um…Jess…what---"

"I don't know. I….really don't know. Just give me a minute. I have to think."

Katie waited patiently as her friend paced frantically back and forth.

"Jessie, I think you should sit down. You're starting to---"

"No. No, I'm fine. I just…I don't know what happened. I don't know what came over me. I sat there, watching you and Tad and I began to feel--"

Out of nowhere, there was a loud knock on the door. Someone on the other side yelled, "Hey! Are you guys done in there? We need the room."

Jessie looked at the door and back at Katie.

"No. Ignore him, Jess. What were you going to say?"

Jessie nodded. "I was saying, I was watching you and Tad and this feeling came over me. I don't know what it was, exactly. But it started driving me crazy. I just….I think--"

Knock knock knock. The knocks were louder than before. "Hey! Are you deaf? If you're done in there, we would really like to use this room!"

Jessie turned to open the door, but Katie flew past her and putting her back against the door, blocked Jessie.

"No, Billie. I want to hear this. Something is obviously on your mind. What is it?"

Jessie hesitated and finally began to speak again. "I can't explain what I'm feeling. I don't think there are words for it…just emotions. But when I was watching you dancing, I found myself---"

The knocks grew even louder. "Dude! People are WAITING out here."

At that, Katie completely lost all patience for the moron on the other side of the door. She opened the door and as soon as she opened it up, she came face to face with a very unsuspecting football player and his flavor of the moment. Some tube-top wearing, acrylic nail sporting, gum-chewing snob who was wearing so much makeup, Katie could only assume she had sold her soul to Maybelline. She charged right up in his face, almost pushing him up against the hallway wall. He barely got out a word. "Oh, Hey Katie. I didn't--"

"Look, this room is occupied for the time being. If you are that desperate to get laid, then do what every other classless, dumbass jock would do and take your lady to the back seat of your car. If you don't have a car, borrow a friend's car. If you don't have a friend, then here." She pulled a five dollar bill out of her skirt pocket and threw it at him. "This should cover the price of a motel that would seem to suit the girl you're with. Now leave us the hell alone!" At that, she walked back in and slammed the door. A look of complete shock came over her face as she turned around to face Jessie. "I can NOT believe I just said that."

Jessie, who was shocked herself, was thoroughly impressed. "Neither can I. But it was awesome." The two shared a laugh. And Jessie suddenly felt more at ease with hear friend. Katie stood there with a look of longing on her face. She wanted to know what Jessie was about to tell her.

Jessie obliged. "Anyway, what I was going to say is that…oh hell." She looked into Katie's eyes and realized she just couldn't hold it in any longer. "I think I'm falling in love with you. Every part of me wants every part of you. I can't explain this attraction, but it's strong. And I like it. And I want you. I completely want you. And I know I had my doubts, but this is it. I can't even…I don't even---"

Before Jessie could finish her sentence, Katie violently pulled her into her. With one hand on Jessie's face and the other around her waist, Katie's lips met Jessie's once more. It was a long kiss; passionate and filled with every emotion they had been feeling for the last 5 days. They were sinking deeper and deeper into the kiss, neither wanting to come up for air. Suddenly, Katie realized that she may have come on too strong and started to pull away, but Jessie wouldn't have it. She held on to Katie and would let her break away from their embrace. Jessie ran her hands up and down Katie's sides, just as she had seen Tad do a few minutes ago. That was exactly what she wanted to do at that moment. Jessie's hands wandered up and down Katie's back. She brought her hands lower and lower until they were gripping her backside and she pulled Katie's hips into her. She could not get close enough to Katie, no matter what she did. She just wanted more. Katie ran her soft hands through Jessie's blonde hair, and brought them down to her neck. That soft, sweet neck she had familiarized herself with just 5 days ago. Katie broke away from Jessie's mouth and brought her lips down to her smooth neck. She allowed her lips to search every part of Jessie's neck, occasionally allowing her tongue to run along her skin. Jessie let out a soft cry every time Katie's tongue made an appearance on her neck. She wanted to feel that for the rest of her life.

Jessie couldn't control herself or her body. She wanted Katie. She pushed her friend forward with a powerful kiss and when they hit the bed, Katie sat down and guided Jessie to the spot next to her. Their kiss continued as Katie leaned Jessie backward onto her back. Katie was now in control. She was beside Jessie, but hovering over her, their lips touching and their mouths still breathing life into each other. Katie's hand traveled to Jessie's stomach and she lifted her shirt. She began tracing lines up and down the other girl's abdomen, wanting to explore more, but fighting her urges as hard as she could. Jessie knew Katie was trying to go slow for her, but at this moment, she didn't need that. What she needed right now was Katie. All of Katie. All of them. The two of them, together. She took Katie's hand and guided it under her shirt and placed her hand on her breast. Both girls let out a moan as Katie's hand gripped Jessie's bare breast. Jessie had forgotten that she didn't need a bra with the shirt she was wearing, so of course she didn't wear one. The sensation inexpressible. Neither girl was expecting to feel what they were feeling.

They were enveloped in each other. They didn't hear the noise from the party going on outside that door. They saw nothing and heard nothing but each other. They heard only the sounds their bodies were making. The moaning, the breathing, the sound of the sheets moving around them. Katie began kissing Jessie's stomach and found herself needing to touch more of Jessie. She pulled her head up and looked at Jessie. She didn't need to say a word. Jessie knew. She slowly brought her shirt up over her head as Katie stared in astonishment. At that moment, Katie wanted to cry. The one thing she wanted most was now in her arms. Completely trusting her, wanting her, too. Katie removed her top as well and Jessie pulled herself up and brought her hands up to take off Katie's bra. There they were. In the same situation they were in days before. Only now, the door was locked. No one would be coming in to bother them. Katie lowered herself on to Jessie and the feel of their flesh joining together stimulated each other to no end.

Katie was immersed. She was happy. At that moment, she was the happiest she'd ever been. She pulled away and looked down at Jessie, adoringly. Jessie opened her eyes, realizing something was missing. "Um…any reason we've stopped?" asked Jessie, trying to catch her breath.

"Are you okay?" Katie replied.

Jessie smiled. "Yeah. I'm great."

"Are you sure? I mean, I don't want you to regret anything."

"Katie, I could never regret anything that has to do with you and me. This is it. I swear to you, this is it. You and me. This is all I need. I don't care about anything else."

Katie lowered her head and breathed a sigh of relief. She slowly rolled over off of Jessie, leaving Jessie wanting more. "What happened? I mean…"

Katie interrupted, "I'm sorry. I'm just kind of overwhelmed right now. I mean, I don't want to stop but I think I have to. I want to let this sink in. I want to take in everything about this moment. Maybe we should take this slow. Although, at the rate we're going, I don't think that's a possibility. But I've got all the time in the world when it comes to you. And I….oh God, Jessie. I'm completely in love with you."

By this point, the were laying on their sides facing each other. Jessie pulled Katie over to her and Katie rested her head on Jessie's stomach. She was enthralled a the sight of Jessie's chest just rising and falling as she was breathing. Jessie was enjoying the feeling of Katie's head on her flesh. Katie was running her finger along Jessie's stomach, while grabbing her hand.

Jessie began to speak. "Maybe we should keep this to ourselves for a while."

Katie started kissing Jessie's stomach again. "If that's what you want, it's fine with me."

Jessie was enjoying the attention her stomach was getting from Katie's lips. "It's just…I mean, I'd like to tell people…eventually. But right now, it should just be you and me. This is so new and so amazing. I kind of don't want to share it with anyone else right now. Does that make sense?"

Katie could not pull herself away from Jessie's stomach, but she did anyway and looked up at her friend. "It makes perfect sense. We'll tell people when we're ready."

Jessie leaned back and smiled. Then thought about what they were going to do in public. Jessie knew that from now on, things were going to be different. And she knew that it would be nearly impossible to refrain from grabbing Katie and kissing her whenever she saw her. It might be easy at home, since she definitely doesn't want her family knowing. But…..

"Katie, what are we going to do at school?"

Katie sat up for a moment and thought. "That's a really good question."

To Be Continued…


	8. Chapter 8

Title: Breaking Me  
Author: Breanna  
Feedback: Bring it on  
Disclaimer: I do not own any of these characters. If I did, they  
would still be on TV and we would have no need for fan fiction.  
Rated: PG-13

Monday morning. Once again, Jessie was up way before her alarm went off. She couldn't sleep. It was one week ago when Jessie's world turned upside down and she was enjoying every minute of the ride. One week ago when Katie revealed her true feelings for her. And Friday, who could forget what happened Friday night at Tad's party? 'Best…party…ever,' thought Jessie. She couldn't wait to see Katie.

When Jessie finally got to school, she headed straight for Katie's locker. She didn't want to seem overly eager, so she started walking back and forth, kind of staking out the locker without letting Katie think that she was too anxious to see her. Jessie wanted to keep her cool. School didn't start for another 20 minutes. Apparently it wasn't that necessary to drag Grace out the door in such a hurry, come to think of it. Jessie finally tired of walking around and took her place next to Katie's locker. She casually leaned back against the lockers, trying to look seductive. She really didn't have to try very hard. Katie came around the corner and spotted Jessie waiting for her at her locker. Jessie was looking in the other direction, expecting Katie to come from her normal entrance. Katie stopped and just watched Jessie. She was captivated. This beautiful girl was just WAITING for her there. Katie couldn't help but feel like the luckiest person alive.

Jessie got restless again and started pacing back and forth, waiting for Katie. Katie decided to put the other girl out of her apparent misery. She walked up behind Jessie and let out an excited, "Hey!"

Perhaps that 'hey' was a little too enthusiastic because it surprised Jessie. While frantically pacing, upon hearing Katie's greeting, Jessie turned around and rammed right into Katie, knocking Katie backwards onto the floor while her books went flying. Katie was on the ground and starting cracking up. Her laughter took her mind off of the pain of falling. Jessie just stood there with a look of horror on her face.

"Well it's nice to know I still make you flustered," said Katie, still laughing.

Jessie was still in her dismayed state of shock. The shock soon turned to embarrassment as she reached out her hand to help Katie up. Katie smiled and took Jessie's hand. At that moment, the sparks just flew out of their fingertips and traveled all the way up through their arms into their entire bodies. Just that minor amount of contact sent their hearts flying. There was no denying the absolute chemistry between these two. Jessie smiled as she pulled her friend up. Then she proceeded to gather up all the books she knocked to the floor. And handed them to Katie.

"Sorry." Jessie couldn't hide her embarrassment.

Katie opened her locker and put her books in. "It's okay. Every time I feel the bruise on my ass, I'll think of you."

Jessie wanted to literally crawl into Katie's locker and close it and never come out. She was thankful the hall wasn't too crowded so not too many people saw her clumsiness unfold once again. Katie was getting out the proper books for her next few classes. Jessie just stood there, not really knowing what to do. All she wanted to do was kiss Katie. In fact, that's all she wanted to do for the rest of her life. She couldn't stand it any longer. Her heart felt like it was going to burst. She couldn't help but smile, while watching Katie. Only they knew what had happened between them. That amazing night at Tad's house. It was a memory that Jessie vividly replayed throughout the entire weekend.

Katie replayed the same memory, as well. But she would never tell Jessie. She didn't want to scare her off. She had been up in the air, on cloud nine since Friday night and could think of nothing but Jessie the entire weekend. And she didn't want to risk anything that might make her fall.

Jessie finally gathered the courage she needed to do what she wanted to do. She brought her hand up to meet Katie's hand, which was still digging around in her locker. Katie stopped what she was doing as soon as Jessie's hand made contact with her. She stared straight ahead at their two hands. She couldn't bring herself to look at Jessie. She knew if she did, they'd be in real trouble. She'd grab hold of Jessie and never let her go and then they'd have some serious explaining to do to everyone watching. Jessie brought her lips up to Katie's ear. Katie could feel the warmth of her breath as Jessie whispered, "I missed you."

At that, Jessie let go of Katie's hand and began walking to her first class. She called out as she was leaving, "I'll see you later!"

Katie stood there, stunned. She couldn't move. She couldn't breathe. She couldn't think. She couldn't stop smiling. And she sure as hell couldn't stop thinking of Jessie.

Class time once again. How could Jessie possibly be expected to concentrate knowing that she was probably 50 yards away from Katie? So close, yet so far. First period dragged on and on for Jessie. The last few days have been so surreal to her. She fell fast and hard for Katie. She was completely in love and so scared of everything she has been feeling but so grateful for the chance to feel it. This was unlike anything she'd ever expect her first love to feel like. Hell, this was her only love. Jessie was sure of it. There was no way she was ever going to let Katie get away. She'd been stupid before; unsure, uneasy, confused. But never again.

It's frightening how in sync these girls were with each other because the exact same thoughts that were running through Jessie's head were circling their way though Katie's as well. Class would be over soon. There would be a 5-minute passing period. That would give her approximately 3 minutes to find and hang out with Jessie before they had to be on their way to their next class. Katie couldn't help but think she was feeling a bit stalker-ish, planning on every single minute she would meet up with Jessie. But somehow the girls had become addicted to each other and there was no end in sight. Suddenly, memories of Friday night crept into Katie's mind and a huge grin came across her face.

"Miss Singer? Is there something funny you'd like to share with the rest of the class?"

Caught! Man that teacher can be such a bitch, thought Katie. She contemplated quickly.

"Um…." The entire class waited with bated breath. They loved when Katie would make her typical smartass reply. "Um…" Think, damn it! Katie was at a loss. All she could see or think of was Jessie. Jessie was clogging her brain! Oh hell. Bless her heart. She's probably keeping me from saying something stupid that will probably garner me another detention. "No. There's nothing to share with the class."

Several heads lowered in disappointment. Katie couldn't help but laugh to herself. Hell, what did they expect? She can't be "on" 24/7.

The bell rang and Katie grabbed her stuff and made a mad dash for the door

Katie spotted Jessie within 47 seconds, a new record! When Jessie saw Katie started making her way toward her. As soon as the two girls met up, Katie took Jessie by the arm and dragged her into Mr. Powers' old classroom. Seeing as how he had been on a leave of absence since last year, the classroom had been empty and used mainly for storage. The room was somewhat dark and dingy. Katie turned on half the lights and closed the door. Three minutes and 12 seconds until they had to be at their next class. Jessie just stood there looking at Katie with a ridiculous grin on her face. Katie came toward her with a fierce intent.

"You have got to seriously get out of my head. I'm losing my biting wit that everyone knows and loves me for." Katie complained. She refused to give Jessie a chance to respond. She let Jessie's lips do the talking as she pulled her in for a kiss. The kiss she had been waiting for all day. Jessie closed her eyes and let herself enjoy this moment of intimacy. She refused to let herself worry about the chance that someone could walk in and catch them. Who cares? With Katie in her arms, none of that matters. Jessie hungrily wanted more from Katie's mouth. She ran her tongue along the other girl's lips, taking pleasure in the smoothness of them. Katie pulled away to catch her breath and looked at her watch.

"Man alive! That was a short 3 minutes. Okay, okay. I have to go, but…I'll see you at lunch, right?" asked Katie.

"I have a feeling I'm not gonna be that hungry," replied Jessie.

Katie leaned in and whispered, "Well, you're gonna eat anyway. We both are. For about 5 minutes. Then we'll just have to excuse ourselves for whatever reason…."

Jessie laughed as she hit the lights. She gave Katie a quick kiss goodbye. The two held hands until the moment they were out the door, then they went their separate ways. Back to the real world. Back to class.

It's lunch time yet again. Tad, Russell and Grace weren't eating. They were too busy watching in complete bewilderment as Katie and Jessie were inhaling their food. Katie looked up to see Russell's mouth wide open in shock. Time to do some damage control.

"We didn't get to eat breakfast," said Katie, her mouth still full of food. Jessie just nodded in agreement as she took her last bite of her rice krispies square.

"Oh, wow. I totally forgot I have a huge project due in history tomorrow. I haven't even started on it. I should go work on it," said Jessie as she got up from the table.

"Oh, well shoot. I was hoping you could hang out longer," replied Katie, trying her hardest not to crack a smile.

"Well, you could come help me if you want. I mean it's----"

"Okay sure, I'll come with you. See you guys later," Katie interrupted and started gathering her stuff.

"Great! Let's go. Bye guys," said Jessie as they started rushing off to their destination.

"Jessie!" Grace called after them. Jessie stopped and turned around. "Have fun." Grace winked at her. Jessie shook her head and smiled. Grace knew. There was no hiding it from her and Jessie decided not to put up a fight. At least Grace was okay with it. And she knew she wouldn't tell anyone.

Holding hands, the girls ran through the empty halls as if they were performing espionage. Both of them laughing uncontrollably and out of breath from running. They ended up at their destination: the library. It was peaceful, quiet, and practically empty. Not too many people wanted to spend their lunch hour in the library unless they had to. Jessie led Katie by the hand as they made their way to the back corner of the library, where almost no one ever went: the random section that held the periodicals, the math and vocabulary work books, science text books and old national geographic magazines. This is the section that mostly consists of books and magazines that had been donated by people who had no use for them anymore. Obviously the students had no use for them, either. Jessie brought Katie down the farthest aisle, and leaned up against the wall. The 9-foot-tall shelves shielded them from the outside world. They knew no one would find them there.

Katie was still holding on to Jessie's hand, now moving her fingers to interlock with Jessie's. Her other hand was pressed up against the wall, as she leaned up against Jessie, inches away from her face. They just lingered there, fixated on each other. Katie's green eyes piercing through Jessie. She felt as if Katie was studying her soul. Katie brought her hand down to Jessie's face.

"My God. I can't even believe how beautiful you are," whispered Katie. There they stood, not needing anything from anyone or anything else. All Jessie needed was Katie and all Katie needed was Jessie.

Jessie flashed her trademark smile that always took Katie's breath away. Jessie started blushing. "You don't have to say that. Really. I know I'm not the most---"

Katie wouldn't let her finish. "Jessie, I would never lie to you. You ARE beautiful. How can you not see that? You have no idea how scared I am that someone's gonna come along and take you away from me."

"That will never happen," Jessie assured Katie. She grabbed Katie's other hand and interlocked their fingers. "You know you're beautiful, too, right? I mean, EVERYONE thinks you're beautiful. You're hot. You're, like, Angelina hot."

Katie looked confused. "Angelina hot?"

"Yeah, both guys AND girls want to do you."

Katie laughed hysterically, almost too loud. Jessie instinctively shushed her and looked around to see if anyone heard them.

"Now THAT is one hell of a compliment," replied Katie as she pulled her hands away from Jessie's and replaced them on Jessie's hips. Jessie rested her hands on Katie's shoulders and soon there was no space between them. Jessie's head rested on the other girl's shoulder as they allowed their bodies to converge into an exhilarating embrace. They just clung to each other, not wanting to ever let go. The intensity was too much for Katie and without wasting another moment, she brought Jessie in for a gentle, lingering touch between their lips...a hesitation on both parts as they touched, and they took the time to memorize the feeling so they could keep it with them while they were apart. Jessie passionately caressed Katie's lips with her tongue, as Katie slowly opened her mouth to greet the other girl's tongue with hers.

They continued vigorously making out for the next 20 minutes. Occasionally Jessie would open her eyes and peer behind Katie to make sure no one was coming. They were safe. And they were running out of time. They soaked up as much as they could of each other before the bell rang. They're lips never tiring of each other while their breathing got heavier and deeper. They were attacking each other full force. Katie still had Jessie pinned up against the wall. She had to pull away. She knew she had to. Lunch was almost over; people would come trickling in for some random class they were holding in the library. She had to pull away, but she couldn't. She craved Jessie.

"Jessie," someone whispered rather loudly.

Katie and Jessie quickly broke away from the kiss and turned around, scared to death of who they were going to face. Both were extremely relieve when they say Grace, of all people, standing in front of them.

"Grace, what the hell are you doing here," asked Jessie.

"Um…shouldn't I be asking that question," replied Grace. "I figured you girls would let time get away from you, so I thought I'd be your little alarm clock. Lunch is over in two minutes, and people are already coming in here."

"How did you know where to find us," asked Katie.

"Please, EVERYONE knows about this place. This is where people go to….you know…be together. You're lucky no one else had the same idea as you today."

By this point, Jessie's face was not so much red, but almost purple. She knew Grace sort of knew about them, but this was absolute proof. She was mortified, but also relieved at the same time. At least now she'd have someone to talk to about it. And she can't believe how stupid they had been. ANYONE could have come around that corner at any moment. They were lucky it just happened to be Grace.

"Excuse me, what's going on over here?" The librarian came around the corner to find the three girls talking. "Shouldn't you ladies be heading off to class?"

Katie was quick to reply. "Oh, well not without my copy of the June 1987 issue of National Geographic. It's quite a read. Mind-boggling stuff." She grabbed a copy off the shelf and looked at it. "Oh, actually, I already know all there is to know about the history of Icelandic culture." She put the magazine back as the librarian rolled her eyes and walked away.

Jessie looked over at Grace. "Thanks, Grace."

"Uh huh. Anytime…but you and I have a lot to talk about on the ride home." And with that, Grace walked away.

Katie looked at Jessie. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. I was just…"

"Scared?"

"Yeah."

"Me too."

Jessie was thankful that Katie felt the same way. They collected their things and headed out of the library. Katie was careful not to be too close to Jessie. But Jessie attained a newfound confidence and grabbed Katie's hand. She didn't care. For all anyone knew, they were just friends. Best friends. Best friends hold hands all the time, don't they? Katie smiled at the feeling of their hands conjoined as they headed to their next class.

To be continued…


	9. Chapter 9

-1Two weeks had gone by, or rather flown by. Jessie and Katie were still inseparable. They simply could not get enough of each other. Two weeks of secret meetings, hidden make-out sessions, knowing looks between each other. The girls did a fairly good job at hiding their romantic liaisons, especially at school. No one knew about them; no one but Grace of course, who went out of her way to help the girls out. No more doubts passed through Jessie's mind. Her heart was completely stolen by Katie and Katie did everything she could to take care of her heart. No way around it, this was love.

Jessie was at her locker, trying to pull it open. Her locker enjoyed taunting her and making her late for class constantly. Thankfully it was the end of the day and at least she'd have the whole weekend to try and pry the thing open.

"Open, damn it! Come on!" Jessie tugged and yanked, but the locker wouldn't budge. 'Great. I was supposed to meet Katie five minutes ago. Now she's gonna think I stood her up.' Jessie couldn't believe this inanimate metal object would dare to keep her from seeing the one person that makes her happy. It was a damn conspiracy!

Meanwhile, Katie was at her car wondering what was keeping Jessie, so she decided to go look for her. She went back into the school to find Jessie battling in world war 3 with her locker. She decided to go and give her a hand. After all, time with Jessie's locker was wasted time. Time with anything BUT the two of them together was wasted time. Katie came up behind Jessie.

"Need a hand?"

And wouldn't you know, at that exact moment, the sound of hearing Katie's voice gave Jessie an inner strength she never knew she had and the locker unexpectedly came flying open and whacked Jessie right on the forehead. She flew back a couple feet only to have Katie catch her fall. She landed in Katie's arms holding her forehead and wincing from the pain. While still holding on to Jessie, Katie took her hand and examined the other girl's head. Everything seemed to appear in working order.

"Oh, you've GOT to be KIDDING me!" exclaimed Jessie, mortified.

"Wow, Billie. You've done wonders for my reflexes. You're constantly keeping me on my toes. I'm quick like cat now, thanks to you."

Jessie blushed. "Thanks for catching me. Stupid locker…"

"Now, now. Don't blame the locker. I actually bribed it to stay closed so that this very thing would happen. I go through great lengths to find reasons to hold you in my arms."

Jessie smiled and contemplated seriously about just staying there in Katie's arms. Forget about going home. Forget about her locker. Forget about the weekend. Just spend it here. Right here where she belonged. But alas, her family would probably form a search party. She took Katie's hand, grabbed her stuff from her locker, and then they were off.

Jessie and Katie walked up the Manning house holding hands. They stopped at the front porch and just before they walked in, they looked around to see if it was safe and then shared a sweet kiss. They continued holding hands until they entered the house, then each girl reluctantly let go of the other as soon as they heard Lilly's voice.

"Hey girls! How was school?"

"Oh, it was okay. Just glad it's the weekend," replied Jessie.

"Do you have big plans for the weekend," asked Lilly as she bustled around in the kitchen.

The girls looked at each other, smirking. "Um…not so much, no."

"Okay. Well dinner will be ready in about an hour. Katie, you're more than welcome to join us."

"Sounds good. I'd love to. Thanks," replied Katie. She noticed Lilly was busy getting dinner ready, so this was her chance. She'd gone two minutes without touching Jessie and she thought she was going to die. Katie subtly and slowly brought her hand back to Jessie's hand and interlocked their fingers. Jessie was surprised and looked at Katie with a mock shameful look. The girls smiled at each other. Each knew what the other was thinking. And they were off. Off to the attic, Katie leading Jessie up the stairs. As soon as they got upstairs, Katie took her place on the floor, leaning up against the bed. Jessie stood there fixated on her. Katie held her hand out and Jessie gladly accepted as Katie pulled her down to her. Jessie sat with her back to Katie, finding the perfect little nook in between Katie's legs. Katie wrapped her arms around the younger girl as Jessie leaned her head back onto Katie's shoulder, enjoying the embrace. She took pleasure in feeling Katie's warm breath on her neck. The two girls just stayed there, breathing together, breathing in the moment and they spent the next hour in that same position: Jessie in Katie's arms, her back pressed up against the older girl's body. Jessie's heart felt as though it would burst.

Dinnertime in the Manning house was quite a sight for Katie. She'd had dinner with them several times before and each time, she was equally intrigued. It was something she simply wasn't used to. A family…having a nice home cooked dinner…and conversation. I mean, they actually TALKED. They talked about actual events that took place in their day. Katie usually ate alone…standing over the sink…trying to drown out the sound of her parents fighting. This was definitely a change and it's why she always accepted whenever an invitation to eat with the Sammler/Manning clan was extended.

"So Jessie, how's Tad doing," asked Lilly.

Jessie was slightly caught off guard by the question. Tad? Why would Lilly be asking about Tad? "Um…he's fine, I guess."

"He hasn't been coming around too often," Lilly continued.

Jessie realized what Lilly was trying to do and started laughing to herself. "Um…no, he hasn't. He's probably just busy."

"Is he dating anyone," Lilly would not let this go.

"Probably. He dates lots of girls," replied Jessie. She looked over at Katie. Katie was looking down at her plate seeming somewhat uncomfortable. At that moment, Jessie hated Lilly. Hated her with a passion for upsetting Katie with all this "Tad" talk.

Lilly was not satisfied. She wanted to know what was going on with Jessie. She had noticed a change in her in the last few weeks. Jessie had been…happy, and Lilly couldn't help but think that a special guy had something to do with it. But Jessie was so secretive, she'd have to pry the information out of her.

"Oh," Lilly responded. "Has anyone asked you to the prom, yet?"

"Mom!" Grace finally broke her silence. She'd had enough and, like Jessie, didn't enjoy seeing the uneasy look on Katie's face.

Lilly looked at Grace. "What? I was just curious."

Jessie looked back at Katie, who was still looking down at her food, obviously too upset to eat. Jessie brought her hand underneath the table and placed it on Katie's thigh. Katie slightly jumped at the feeling of Jessie's hand on her leg. Jessie was softly massaging her thigh, trying to soothe her. It was definitely working. She looked over at Jessie and smiled. Then, she brought her hand down to meet Jessie's hand and suddenly, everything was right in the world again. Katie wasn't so upset about the topic of conversation.

Rick, who was oblivious to the tension at the table, finally spoke up. "Well, Jessie's only a sophomore, right? I mean sophomores don't usually go to the prom, do they?" He winked at his daughter.

"Not unless they're asked by a junior or senior," Grace replied, looking at Katie, widening her eyes and faintly motioning to Jessie with her head. Katie blushed and looked down again, and grasped Jessie's hand tighter.

Lilly would not let up. These girls were so guarded about everything. "And Katie, what about you? I'm sure you've got guys lining up to take you to the prom."

Grace snickered slightly and then realized it was a little too loud, so she decided to cover it up with a cough.

Katie chose to throw Lilly a bone. "Oh, I don't know. There are a few prospects. But prom's not for another couple of months, so…I'm keeping my options open." Katie then proceeded to trace hearts in Jessie's palm with her finger. Childish and cheesy, yes, but she didn't care. Jessie felt the heart shapes coming from Katie's finger and she grinned. She loved it. She turned to face Katie who was looking over at Lilly. Jessie traced the lines of the other girl's profile, trying to memorize the beautiful pattern. She just kept staring at Katie, perhaps one second too long because by this point, Lilly was watching Jessie, trying to figure out why she was admiring her friend for so long.

Rick decided to break the silence. "Grace, what about you? Any potential prom dates?"

"Well, like Katie said, it's not for another couple months," she said matter-of-factly.

"Besides, Katie pretty much has first dibs on every guy in school. They all want to go out with her," Jessie chimed in. 'But I'm the one that got her,' she thought. Jessie was elated. She still hadn't let go of Katie's hand and now she found herself finally letting go, only to go back to Katie's jeans and massaging her thigh again. Katie felt a surge of electricity rushing through her entire body as Jessie lovingly stroked her leg. She had to catch her breath in order so speak.

"Yeah, well, they have to catch me first," Katie tried to come up with something witty. That was all she could choke out. 'Dammit Billie, I've lost my wit again.' She was too busy concentrating on the incredible feeling of Jessie's hand moving up her thigh. 'Wait, moving UP? Oh God,' thought Katie. Jessie's hand was indeed moving up her thigh, slowly making it's way to a very sensitive area of Katie's. Katie found it very hard to control herself. She looked over at Jessie and for the life of her, she couldn't figure out how Jessie remained so calm in a situation like this. She looked so nonchalant as she was driving Katie absolutely insane with her touch. 'How does she do it???' Katie was beginning to turn red, and looking around to see if anyone realized what was going on between them at this moment underneath the table. No one had a clue. Jessie continued to tease Katie with her hand still traveling up and down her leg, occasionally, ever-so-slightly making her way between Katie's thighs. Katie's breathing grew heavier and her mind was completely clouded. 'Oh my God,' she thought. 'This is so not happening…I mean, it IS, but it's so not. Jessie wouldn't be so cruel to do this to me right here.'

"So Katie, besides the many guys after you, how is school going?" Rick took over the conversation once more.

Katie could not focus. 'Okay, Singer. He asked you a question. Something about school. Oh my God, Jessie's hand feels so amazing….wait. Okay think. Um…just ANSWER. Use the universal answer every kid gives an adult.'

"Fine. It's fine. It's…really, really good, actually." Katie was responding more to Jessie's magic hands than Rick's question. This was unreal for Katie. I mean, if Jessie had this affect on her by just touching her legs, she was almost scared of the amount of ecstasy she would be in if they had done anything more, but God she sure as hell wanted to find out what that would be like.

Meanwhile, Jessie was feeling the same amount of pleasure Katie was feeling just by touching her. She knew she should stop for Katie's sake, but she was enjoying herself too much. She had no idea what came over her, but whatever it was, she liked it.

"Katie, are you okay? You've barely touched your food," Lilly asked, somewhat concerned seeing as how every time Katie eats there, she finishes all the food on her plate, and usually asks for seconds.

"Huh? Oh..yeah. No. I'm okay. Everything is fine and great and…Wow…um…I mean, yeah. No, the food looks great."

Jessie finally gave her friend a break and brought her hand back up to the table so Katie could finally eat. Katie looked Jessie and smiled as a way of saying thank you. She took a deep breath and at last, started eating as everyone else was finishing up.

Everyone had gone their separate ways after dinner while Katie and Jessie were still at the table. Katie was finally finishing up her food while Jessie was content just watching her.

"That was so not cool," stated Katie.

Jessie's smile died. She felt horrible. "Oh. I'm so sorry. I thought…"

"I said it was not cool. I didn't say I didn't enjoy it. Cuz I totally did." Katie nudged Jessie playfully. Jessie elbowed her back and the two started play fighting. Katie looked around to see if they were indeed alone and then stole a quick kiss from Jessie's lips.

"Are you done?"

"I couldn't eat another bite. Well, I COULD, but all the food's gone, so I guess I'm done," replied Katie.

"Excellent." Jessie grabbed Katie's hand and they started to head back upstairs. They passed by Rick and Lilly, who were watching tv in the living room.

"Is it okay if Katie stay's the night?"

Lilly looked somewhat apprehensive. The girls were behaving rather oddly during dinner and she had her suspicions about what was going on, but really didn't want to jump to any conclusions. "Uh…well. Is it okay with Katie's parents?"

"Yeah, they're fine with it since it's a Friday," replied Katie, not able to look Lilly directly in the eyes.

Lilly looked them over one last time and then looked at Rick. "Sure. It's fine," said Rick.

"Great, thanks guys. Goodnight!" Jessie pulled Katie by the hand and they headed up to the attic once again.

Lilly sighed and shook her head. She really didn't want to be so suspicious about what those girls were up to. Plus, it really wasn't her place to say or do anything about it. Hopefully it will come to Rick's attention sooner or later. She rested her head back on Rick's shoulder as they continued to watch tv.

The girls erupted through the attic door, closed it tight and dashed up the stairs.

"What WAS that at dinner?" asked Katie.

"I don't know. I just felt so bad with Lilly asking about Tad and all that talk about prom. I had to touch you. I had to be near you. Is that okay?" Jessie came toward Katie and put her arms around her.

"Yeah, of course it's okay." Katie felt completely weak in the knees. She swore if Jessie wasn't holding onto her, she would have toppled over completely. "That just took a lot of courage…doing that at the dinner table."

"Well, yeah. I know. You've given me more strength than I've ever had before. So…um…you liked it?"

Katie laughed. "Oh God, yes." Katie leaned in and kissed Jessie as a way of saying thank you for stirring up all those emotions inside of her.

"So…I know I didn't exactly ask, but you're okay with staying the night tonight, right?" Jessie asked, shyly.

"Of course I am."

"Good, because I just…need to be near you. Constantly. I'm not ready to say goodbye tonight."

"Well, with us, it's never goodbye. You know that, right? It's always 'see you later.' Always."

Jessie smiled and gazed at Katie wanting so bad to tell her what her heart was feeling, but was so nervous, she thought she was going to pass out. Katie sensed something was off with her friend.

"What's wrong," asked Katie.

"Um…I just…."

"What?" Katie was now looking directly into Jessie's light blue eyes, pleading with her to tell her what was wrong.

"I love you," Jessie whispered to Katie.

Katie was beaming. Those three words flowed out of Jessie's mouth with such ease, as if she was born to say those words to her. And it was music to Katie's ears.

Katie leaned in and whispered, "I know."

Their arms were completely wrapped around each other and Jessie's face was buried in Katie's shoulder. "I love you, too," Katie assured Jessie. Jessie's face moved towards Katie's neck as she started kissing Katie's soft skin. Tears were stinging her eyes. She was overjoyed by the words that transpired between them and now she needed every part of her body touching every part of Katie.

Soon Katie's lips joined Jessie's as they hungrily came together in a fiery, intense kiss. Katie ran her hands up and down Jessie's hips and abdomen. God, that stomach. She loved Jessie's stomach. It was Katie's favorite thing on the planet at this moment and her fingers were slowly running along it. She found herself unable to control her hands as she tugged at Jessie's shirt. The shirt easily came off over Jessie's head as Katie pushed Jessie backwards toward the bed. By the time they reached the bed, Jessie had successfully removed Katie's shirt, as well and the two of them crashed onto the bed with each other. Katie lay on top of Jessie, just taking in the sight of her body. Jessie timidly looked up at Katie. Katie could see the nervousness in Jessie's eyes as the younger girl started to remove her bra. Katie didn't want Jessie to be uneasy or feel awkward, so she followed suit and removed her bra, as well. Their eyes never once broke contact from each other. Katie lowered herself onto Jessie and they both quivered at the feel of their flesh joining together. Katie traced the softness of Jessie's lips with her tongue while running her hand up her arm and through her blonde hair.

Jessie was shaking. Katie was shaking. She pulled away and looked into Jessie's eyes. They both knew what was going to happen next. Jessie could feel it in her stomach. A million thoughts were running through her mind. 'It's too soon. I'm too young. What would people think?' But all of those thoughts came to a halt as soon as Jessie caught Katie bringing out her secret weapon. She licked those undeniably soft lips of hers. Katie had always had this unconscious habit of licking her lips and had done it on several occasions while gazing at Jessie. And it made Jessie melt. I mean, it drove her absolutely insane. She loved it. She never once told Katie of her involuntary habit. She thought Katie would be self-conscious about it and then stop doing it. But the second Katie licked her lips, Jessie was brought back to here and now…with Katie. And the only thought she had in her head at this moment was that she had to have her.

The sense of urgency between the two now became unbearable. After weeks of taunting, teasing, waiting, it was now going to happen. Both girls were completely scared, but they knew that it would be okay as long as they had each other. Jessie brought her head up closer to Katie's. Katie's silent lips accepted Jessie's lips with trembling grace and they were both swept away in this sweet surrender signaled by a kiss. Katie was dizzy, longing for more of Jessie. While her one hand was still stroking Jessie's hair as they were kissing, her other hand found it's way up Jessie's stomach and rested on her breast. Jessie, in turn, brought her hand up to Katie's breast, both girls discovering new sensations their bodies had never recognized before. Both breathing fervently and still lost in a deep kiss, Jessie then took Katie's hand and guided it down to Jessie's jeans. Katie then proceeded to unbutton and unzip Jessie's pants. She broke the kiss for a moment as she moved her hands down to slide them off. She took her time and left her hands feel as they moved passed Jessie's hips, then her soft legs, and finally her feet. Katie returned to Jessie quickly, not wanting to miss a moment with her. Jessie was naked. And Katie, though feeling euphoric, was scared. She was barely audible when she spoke.

"If you don't want to do this, we don't have to." Her voice cracked.

Jessie just smiled. "It's okay. I want to. I definitely want to."

Jessie then started to unbutton Katie's pants to let her know she was serious. She wasn't as scared anymore and she wasn't having second thoughts. It wasn't long before both girls were completely unclothed. From the dim light in the room, Jessie could see Katie's body shaking. She was nervous. They both were. The girls just clung to each other until they shaking stopped. Katie brought Jessie in for another mind-blowing kiss as she ran her hand down Jessie's stomach once more. Only this time, she didn't stop there. Her hand kept traveling down. She looked at Jessie for permission. Jessie slightly nodded and the sensation of Katie touching sent her soaring. Jessie opened her mouth at the moment of contact and let out a euphoric moan that nearly drove Katie insane. Katie just kept kissing Jessie, and stroking her hair with her other hand. Jessie wanted Katie to feel what she was feeling. She began to touch Katie in the same place that was giving her a feeling of complete ecstasy. Katie whimpered with delight. They could feel their hearts beating against each other as their bodies and souls melded together. Their bodies converged as both girls began quivering and writhing at the same time as they climaxed. Beads of sweat were rolling down Katie's forehead as she gently collapsed onto Jessie. The girls just lay there, listening to each other breathing deep. Jessie just held onto Katie, never wanting to let go. Katie looked at her, smiled, and kissed her.

The girls, now dressed for bed, stayed up most of the night just laying there and talking. Their hands intertwined as if both of them were scared that the other would some how get away from them. Just before Jessie had fallen asleep, she heard the sweetest voice in the world whisper, "I love you, Jessie." She had just enough strength to respond, "I love you, too, Katie." And with that, the girls fell asleep in each other's arms.

To be continued...


	10. Chapter 10

Katie awoke to the sound of the sheets rustling. It took a minute for her eyes to focus, but once her vision was clear, she saw the most delightful image in the world: Jessie, in her arms waking up next to her. Her face looked absolutely exquisite in the morning light. Her soft blonde hair was tousled and her dreamy eyes were gazing back up at Katie.

"Good morning," said Jessie as she started to stretch. She then greeted Katie with an engaging kiss.

"Morning," replied Katie. Then she wasted no time and scooted her way down to Jessie's stomach, lifted up Jessie's shirt and rested her head on her favorite spot, while wrapping her arms around Jessie's waist. She lay there, just listening to the younger girl's breath go in and out and felt her stomach rise and fall. Besides breathing, Jessie didn't dare move. She wanted to make sure this wasn't a dream. And if it was, she sure as hell didn't want to risk waking up.

"How did you sleep?" asked Jessie.

"Honestly, that was the best night's sleep I've had in months."

"Me too," replied Jessie. She stared at Katie in awe. "I can't believe how beautiful you are," Jessie smiled, looked down at Katie and began to stroke her hair.

Katie closed her eyes. She was completely content with absolutely everything at that moment. She wanted to stay there for the rest of her life with her head on Jessie's stomach and Jessie's hands running through her hair. She turned her head and looked up at Jessie.

"This isn't a dream, right? I mean, this is really happening. You're really here right now, right?"

Jessie realized Katie had the same fear she had. She grabbed the older girl by the arm to pulled her up towards her. Katie helped her out by crawling towards Jessie and resting her body on top of her.

"This is definitely not a dream. My dreams are never as sweet as this," Jessie replied as she leaned up to kiss Katie once more.

"Wow, Billie. That has got to be the cheesiest thing I've ever heard."

"Yeah, well. That's how I roll."

The two girls shared a laugh as they climbed out of bed, ready to face this beautiful day. Meanwhile, they were both unaware of the fact that they were not alone in the room. At the bottom of the stairs, Lilly found herself listening in on the very private conversation between the two girls. She had only gone in to wake them up, but when she saw the two of them in each other's arms, she didn't know how to react. Lilly was in a state of shock. She managed to make it back down to the bottom of the stairs as soon as the girls woke up.

"Hey, you girls want some breakfast?" asked Rick as he spotted Jessie and Katie coming down the stairs.

"Sure," replied Katie.

"Well, help yourselves. I'm off. I've got a meeting for work."

"On a Saturday?" asked Jessie.

"Yup. My life is one nonstop party," replied Rick as he kissed his daughter on the forehead.

He went over to kiss Lilly goodbye as she was staring at the two girls from behind her coffee cup. "Bye sweetie."

Lilly smiled at him as he walked out the door and went back to observing Jessie and Katie as they were eating their breakfast.

"Did you girls sleep okay?" asked Lilly.

"Yeah, we were fine," replied Jessie, unable to look Lilly in the eyes.

Lilly had no idea how to go about bringing up the subject. She didn't want to scare either of them off or upset them. She was just trying to get a grasp on the situation. How serious were they? How long had this been going on? Do the kids at school know? Lilly had always tried to be tolerant and open-minded, but she had no idea how to gage exactly what was happening.

"Well, do you girls have any plans for today?"

"We'll probably go to the mall or something," replied Katie, who didn't look up from her food, for fear that it might get away from her. Her stomach would not appreciate that. She was on her second helping of eggs when she felt a pair of crystal blue eyes watching her. She turned to face Jessie. "What? Do I have something in my teeth?"

Lilly noticed as Jessie shook her head and looked at her friend adoringly. "No, it's just…how do you do it?"

"What? Fill up every day with my awesomeness? It's a gift."

"No. How do you eat all that and never gain a pound. You are ridiculously skinny." She nudged her friend in the stomach.

"Hey, I'm a growing girl. You should see my brothers eat. I learned from the best." Katie playfully bumped her shoulder into Jessie's shoulder.

Lilly continued to watch the two girls interact, watching the smile on Jessie's face and slowly coming to the realization that Katie was the reason for Jessie's change in behavior. Katie was the reason Jessie was so happy lately. It made perfect sense. The two girls are never apart from each other. Jessie would not have had time between school and Katie to meet and fall in love with some boy. But did that mean she had fallen in love with Katie? Lilly snapped out of her stupor when she realized two sets of eyes watching her.

"Um…Lilly? Any reason you're staring at us?" asked Jessie.

Lilly flinched. "Oh. Uh…no, no reason. Sorry. It's just early and this coffee obviously hasn't hit me yet." Lilly realized that she should probably be a little more discreet while watching the girls.

"Okay. Well, we're gonna go out for a while. See ya."

"All right. Well, be safe and call us if you're going to be later than 8 o'clock."

"Okay," replied Jessie. "Is it okay of Katie stays the night again tonight?"

Lilly froze for a minute. She had no idea what to say to that. Was it really such a good idea, knowing what had happened last night? And how many times had that happened before? She looked back and forth from Jessie to Katie.

"Well, I don't know if that's a good idea. Katie's family might want her home for once. But I'll check with your dad."

Katie could see how uncomfortable Lilly was. 'Oh God, does she know something? Lilly's fairly perceptive,' thought Katie.

"Um…you know what? You're probably right. My parents have been complaining that they never see me anymore. Maybe next time, Jess."

Jessie looked at her friend quizzically. "Well, maybe I could stay at your house?"

Katie nervously looked over at Lilly and back at Jessie. "I don't think my parents would like that. They don't like to have company very often." Katie looked down and felt horrible for denying her friend, but what if Lilly suspected something? She didn't want to risk her finding out for sure.

The girls walked out the door, leaving Lilly to sort out everything that had transpired in the last half hour.

Katie grabbed Jessie's hand as soon as the door closed. "I'm sorry. I just…I think that Lilly might sense something's going on."

Jessie stopped in her tracks. "You mean, with us?" She looked panicked.

"Don't worry. Maybe she doesn't know anything. But I know you're not ready for people to know about us yet. I just didn't think you wanted her to start asking questions. I know how you hate that."

Jessie couldn't help but smile. Katie always had her back and did everything in her power to protect her. And she knew she'd never find someone so amazing as that.

The weekend went by fast and it was Monday yet again. The girls managed to spend most of the weekend together, but they weren't able to arrange another sleepover that weekend, so they had deal with waking up alone, which they had done thousands of times before, but this time it was so much harder. It was almost torturous compared to how perfect it was to wake up in each other's arms, but they would have to thrive on the fact that they would see each other at school and all would be well. Things were a little different now. The intensity between them was through the roof and they were more in love than ever. It was impossible to break a bond that strong.

Katie was at her locker waiting for Jessie to meet her when two hands came over her eyes, leaving her in darkness.

"Guess who."

Katie smiled and turned around. Her smile quickly faded when she realized it wasn't Jessie. "Oh…hey Sarah."

"So how have you been?"

Katie occupied herself by digging into her locker. "Fine."

"Cool." They stood in silence until Sarah spoke again. "So look, I know we haven't talked in a while and I just wanted to see how you are."

"I said I'm fine."

"Okay. Listen, I'm sorry. I'm sorry for being a complete bitch to you…and to Jessie. I know you guys are good friends and I really should have been nicer to her."

Katie was visibly annoyed. "Yeah, you should have." She slammed her locker and started to walk away. Sarah grabbed her by the arm to try and stop her.

"Wait. Where are you going?"

"I'm going to look for Jessie."

"Oh." Sarah looked dejected. "Well, you look really nice today. Did I tell you that?"

Katie rolled her eyes. She hated when Sarah did this. It was her little trick that Katie learned about her early on. She always tried to feed Katie's ego and Katie wasn't falling for it this time. Sarah loosened her grip and slid her hand down to Katie's hand.

"Look, Sarah. I don't know what this is or what you're trying to do, but stop it."

"I just miss you," replied Sarah, gripping Katie's hand tighter. At that moment, Katie looked over to see Jessie staring disbelief at the scene before her. There was probably a rational explanation, but at that moment, Jessie could only see Katie holding hands with Sarah. The horrified look on Jessie's face was more than Katie could take. She yanked her hand away from Sarah's, went up to Jessie and put her arm around her.

"Hey. Come on. Let's go."

She led a distraught Jessie down the hallway. "Look, that really was NOT what it looked like. I swear."

"Okay. But you haven't spoken to Sarah in like months and now all of a sudden you guys are friends again?" asked Jessie.

"No! No, not at all. I don't even know why she was talking to me. Well, I mean…I know WHY, but I told her to leave me alone."

Jessie stopped in front of her classroom. "Right. Well, okay. I should go in to class."

Katie nodded, sensing that Jessie was really not okay with what she saw and mentally cursing Sarah for bringing any kind of pain into Jessie's life. "Okay, I'll see you at lunch." Then she leaned in and whispered, "I'll miss you."

Jessie ambivalently nodded and walked into her classroom, almost in a daze. Katie moped all the way to her class. Why Sarah would pick today of all days to do that to her? Why? She grew more and more angry just thinking about it.

At lunch, Katie too nervous to eat. She had to see Jessie and make sure she was okay before she could eat a bite. Leave it to Jessie to make her lose her appetite. She was the only one who was able to do that. Out of nowhere came the thorn in Katie's side who suddenly decided to make second attempt at talking to her. Sarah sat down right next to Katie. Katie could not believe that Sarah had the audacity to make yet another appearance. Twice in one day after months of not speaking? What was wrong with this girl?

"What do you want?" Katie didn't even look at her. She was busy scanning the cafeteria for Jessie.

"I just wanted to talk."

"We haven't spoken in months. Seriously. If I wanted to talk to you, I would have talked to you by now."

"Why won't you talk to me?"

"Because. You're not a nice person. It just took me too long to realize that."

"Katie, I know you don't mean that. We were good friends. Close friends. Don't you miss that?" Sarah took the liberty of stroking Katie's hair while talking to her. Katie looked over at her and couldn't believe she had the nerve to do such a thing. Sarah would not let up. She leaned in closer to Katie. "God, you're so beautiful."

"Is she?"

Katie looked up to see Jessie standing in front of them, tears filling her eyes. Katie jumped up instantly. "Jessie."

But it was too late. Jessie had stormed off, while Katie was frantically running after her. They ended up out in the hall when Katie finally caught up to her.

"Jessie, wait!"

Jessie turned around, tears now completely running now her cheeks. "Look, if you were just using me to get Sarah back-"

"What?!? No, Jessie. That's not what it is. I swear it's not. Sarah and I weren't even together."

"Really? Then why are you talking to her out of nowhere?"

"She talked to me. Personally, I can't stand her."

"Yeah, well that makes two of us," replied Jessie. "I just can't believe that after everything that happened this weekend, you would do this. I mean, is that it? That's all you wanted from me and now you're moving on?"

"Jessie! You need to calm down. That's not it at all. I swear. I swear to you. I don't care if I ever see Sarah again. Please believe me."

"So am I just supposed to be okay when my girlfriend is flirting with some other girl?" asked Jessie.

Katie was taken aback. "I wasn't flirting with her. I swear. She may have been flirting with me, but I would never do that to you." Katie thought for a minute and reached over to grab Jessie's hand. "You know, that's the first time you've ever called me you girlfriend."

"Yeah well…" Jessie voice trailed off, only to come back with, "I don't like that fact that people think it's okay to just flirt with you. I can't…I can't deal with this right now."

Jessie turned to walk away. Katie grabbed her arm. "Billie, please don't do this."

Jessie broke away from Katie's grip and stormed off. Katie had never seen Jessie like this before. This was something very new, but she understood that seeing her with Sarah must have stirred up an insane amount of jealousy. She realized she'd feel exactly the same way if she saw Jessie with some other girl, or guy for that matter. Especially right after that amazing night they had shared together. Katie watched as Jessie kept walking away. She felt so helpless. She was barely audible when she choked out the words, "I love you."

After school, Katie waited for Jessie at her car, but she never showed up. She looked around for Grace to see if maybe she was taking Jessie home instead, but had no luck finding her. Katie climbed into her car and sat there for a minute. She had to find Jessie. It was all she could think about. She knew they could get through this. There was an emptiness inside her right now, she was almost lifeless. Jessie was they only way to fill that void.

Jessie ended up walking home. She needed to blow off steam and try to hide the redness of her eyes from crying so much. She walked into the Manning home and slammed the door. Lilly came out of the kitchen when she heard the door slam.

"Hey girls, how was--oh. It's just you, Jessie. Where's Katie?"

Jessie just looked at her with disdain. "How should I know?"

Lilly was taken aback by Jessie's comment. "Okay. Well, dinner will be ready in -"

"I'm not hungry!" Jessie stormed up the stairs and slammed the door to the attic. The sound echoed through the entire house. Lilly stood there, trying to make sense of Jessie's behavior. She could only assume she and Katie had gotten into a fight, which was hard to believe, since they never fought.

An hour later, Jessie came down stairs with her bag. "I'm going out. I'll be back in a couple hours."

"Wait, where are you going?" asked Lilly.

"I said I'm going out. I'll be back." Jessie walked out the door and ran off before Lilly even had a chance to catch her. She ran outside to see which way Jessie went, but she was gone. She shook her head.

"This can't be good."

She was just about to walk inside when she saw a car pull up in the driveway. Katie got out and walked up to Lilly. Lilly was stunned to see how distraught Katie was. She looked like she had been crying for hours on end. Her eyes were completely bloodshot.

"Katie, sweetie. What's wrong?"

Katie answered meekly, "Is Jessie here?"

"No, she just took off."

"Do you know where she went? I've been looking for her everywhere."

Lilly shook her head. "I'm sorry. She wouldn't tell me. All I know is she had her overnight bag with her. But she said she'd be back in a couple hours. Why don't you come in and wait for her?"

Katie looked down. "I really should go find her."

"What happened with you two?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, obviously something happened with you two. Jessie's never been upset or depressed since she met you. And now…well, I can only assume you two got into a fight."

Katie nodded slightly. "Yeah, I guess. But it wasn't intentional. I'd never do anything to hurt her."

Lilly looked at the young girl and saw how desperate she was. It seemed all she wanted was to make Jessie happy. "I know you wouldn't, sweetie. Jessie's just very sensitive. She always has been. She's very fragile."

"She's not as fragile as she appears," replied Katie, thinking back on how strong Jessie was during her Tae Kwon Do class. Then, all of a sudden, it hit Katie. She looked at her watch. "Oh my gosh. Um…I have to go. Thanks Lilly."

With that, she jumped in her car and drove away. Lilly could only hope Katie knew where to find Jessie. She didn't want to have to explain Jessie's absence to Rick when he came home.

Katie pulled into the parking lot of the Tae Kwon Do center and ran inside. She scanned the entire room looking for Jessie. There wasn't a class in session, but there were several people there training. And there she was. That unmistakable blonde hair. Katie breathed a sigh of relief as she saw Jessie in her Tae Kwon Do uniform punching and kicking a training bag. She stood there and watched Jessie, trying to decide what she should say to her.

Meanwhile, Jessie was giving everything she had to that punching bag. Kicks, knees, punches, elbows; absolutely everything. She couldn't focus. All she could think about was Sarah putting her hands all over Katie and it drove her completely crazy. Granted, she may have overreacted, but Katie is the love of her life. And she never thought Katie would ever hurt her. And while Katie probably didn't do anything wrong, Jessie still couldn't get that visual out of her head. She began punching faster and harder while the thoughts kept swarming around in her head. 'Sarah called Katie beautiful. I'm the only one who should get to say that to her,' thought Jessie. She decided her arms weren't letting out enough aggression, so she switched to side kicks. 'Why is this upsetting me so much? I mean, I really had no right to treat Katie like that. She wasn't doing anything,' Jessie continued her inner dialogue. 'But that's just it. She didn't do anything. She didn't even pull away from Sarah until she saw me there.' The poor punching bag was getting the brunt of Jessie's angry kicks. She was exhausted. She wanted to cry. She wanted to just curl up into a little ball and cry. And she wanted Katie to hold onto her and tell her that everything was going to be okay. At that moment she stopped kicking. Her thoughts completely enveloped her until her heart skipped a beat. A feeling of relief came over her as soon as she heard a familiar voice.

"Getting out some aggression?" asked Katie.

Jessie grabbed her water bottle and took a drink. She didn't face Katie. She couldn't look at her at that moment. All she wanted to do was take her in her arms, but she was so upset and so confused, she couldn't bring herself to turn around. She just continued punching the bag, feeling a little better knowing that Katie was right there. She'd never let Katie know it, though.

"No. I'm just practicing to kick Sarah's ass," replied Jessie.

"I'm all for that."

"Really?" Jessie still refused to look at Katie. Katie could sense this and she could feel the tears start welling up in her eyes again. She did her best to fight it off.

"Yeah. I mean, she's the reason you're mad at me. She's the reason you're upset. And because of that, I hate her."

Jessie stopped punching and finally faced Katie, trying her hardest not to cry, and also trying to keep herself from hugging her.

"So it's all her fault, huh? You had NOTHING to do with it?" asked Jessie.

"What could I do? She doesn't know we're together."

"Well maybe she should!" Jessie snapped back.

Katie was shocked at her response. "You want me to tell her? Okay, I'll tell her."

"Well, that's not gonna stop someone else from thinking they can have you, too."

"But…Billie, that means that people are gonna have to know. Like…everyone."

Jessie nodded.

"But I thought you didn't want anyone to know," replied Katie.

"I don't care anymore. I don't ever want to feel that way again. It sucked." Jessie held Katie's gaze.

Katie had no idea what to say. She hadn't been prepared for Jessie to be ready to disclose their relationship so soon. "Well, Jess…I mean, are you sure you want to do this? I know you were worried about it before and ---"

"Look, it's obvious you don't want people to know about us," interrupted Jessie. "I guess you want to be free to flirt with other people." Jessie turned away from Katie, trying to fight the tears that were about to pour out.

"Jessie, of course I want people to know. I've wanted to tell everybody I see that I'm in love with the most beautiful, intriguing girl the world has ever seen. I love you. I love you so much and seeing you like this is breaking me. I just know that you were really apprehensive about telling people…"

Jessie had heard enough. "No, that's fine. You're right. We won't tell a soul. That way you can have your fill of flirting." Jessie grabbed her bag and ran out before Katie even got a chance to respond. She tried to run after her, but Jessie was too fast. Katie was at a loss. It felt as though her heart had been ripped out of her chest. She could barely breathe. All she could do was finally let the tears fall. She sat there on the curb and cried. She had to make this right. She had to. Life without Jessie was not something she wanted to experience.

To Be continued…


	11. Chapter 11

Jessie felt the tears stinging her eyes. She did not stop crying the entire way home from Tae Kwon Do. She just couldn't stand the thought of Katie with someone else. They belonged together. She knew it from the moment they met. Her eyes were red, but she didn't care. She didn't even try to hide it when she walked in the door. Lilly rushed over to her.

"Thank God you're okay. You scared the hell out of me. Where did you go?"

Jessie continued sobbing and suddenly Lilly's anger turned to concern. Jessie felt powerless. She had no way of restraining her emotions. She couldn't speak, she could barely breathe. She was shuddering as she did the only thing she could think of doing at that moment. She fell into Lilly's arms and continued bawling. Lilly was thrown off guard. That was the last thing she had expected Jessie to do. She stood there and comforted her step-daughter, kissing her hair and slightly rocking her as they stood there in the living room.

"Oh, sweetie. It's okay. This will pass, I promise."

Jessie tried talking through her tears. "No it won't. It hurts too much."

"What hurts?"

Jessie didn't know how to respond. She just kept weeping, unable to stop the tears from falling. All she wanted at that moment was Katie. 'Why did I run out on her? That was so stupid!' she thought. She knew it should have been Katie soothing her at that moment, not Lilly. Jessie pulled away from Lilly and started to head upstairs.

"Jessie, wait," Lilly called after her.

Jessie stopped and turned around. Lilly could see the lifelessness in her face. Lilly sat on the couch. "Come here, sweetie. Sit down."

Jessie sighed. She reluctantly obliged and took a seat next to Lilly on the couch. Lilly handed her a tissue.

Lilly didn't know what to say, exactly, but she knew she had to say something. "Whatever it is Jess, whatever happened between you two, I'm sure you'll get past it."

Jessie just stared at Lilly, unsure of what she was getting at. "Wha…what do you mean," she sniffled.

"I mean you and Katie. She stopped by earlier today looking for you. Jess, she looked awful. What happened between you two?"

Jessie just looked down.

"Whatever it is, you can tell me. It's okay," insisted Lilly.

"I just don't know if she cares about me as much as she used to," was all Jessie could choke out.

"Trust me, Jess. She cares for you deeply. I can tell," Lilly paused for a second and then, "She loves you."

Jessie looked up and finally caught Lilly's eyes. She was startled by Lilly saying it so matter-of-factly. Lilly reached over to grab Jessie's hand.

"It's okay, Jessie. I know. You don't need to worry. No one else knows, but we are all on your side. I've seen how much Katie makes you happy. We've all seen it. That's all we care about; your happiness."

Jessie almost couldn't comprehend what she was hearing. "Lilly, I---I…"

"Do you love her, too, Jessie?"

Jessie looked at Lilly for a moment, wiped away a stray tear and nodded. "Yes."

"Well then. I can't stand to see you cry. And I know your mom and dad can't, either. So, maybe you should give her a call."

Jessie shook her head. "She probably won't talk to me. She'd rather talk to…well, not me." Jessie felt the tears coming again as she pictured Sarah all over Katie.

Suddenly, they heard keys rattling at the front door. Jessie desperately looked at Lilly and whispered, "Don't tell my dad."

Lilly nodded. "I won't. And I'll be here for you when you do decide to tell him."

Jessie moved toward Lilly and gave her a hug just as Rick walked in the door. He stopped abruptly as he caught glimpse of the scene before him. He wasn't used to seeing Jessie hug Lilly so willingly.

"Hey," said a startled Rick.

Jessie pulled away and continued wiping her eyes. "Hi dad."

"Everything okay?" He looked over at Lilly. She smiled and nodded to reassure him that everything was fine.

"Jess, why don't you go finish your homework," suggested Lilly.

Jessie started to get up from the couch, but paused for a moment. She looked over at Lilly, whose calming eyes gave her courage. The same courage that she gets whenever she looks into Katie's eyes.

"Um, actually. Dad, can you sit down for a minute? I have something I need to talk to you about." Jessie had to catch her breath as soon as those words came out of her mouth. She didn't know why, but for some reason, she felt she had to tell her dad. She was ready. She was terrified to death and wished Katie was right next to her to help her. But she knew this was the time to do it. Right now. On her own. It was time to make Katie proud.

Rick sat down and Jessie's nerves started to take over her. Her heart was pounding. She grabbed Lilly's hand for support and proceeded to tell her father that she had fallen in love.

The next day, Katie waited patiently at Jessie's locker. She hadn't slept all night. All she wanted to do was call Jessie. But she forced her fingers to hang up the phone before she finished dialing. Then she thought seriously about going over to Jessie's, even though it was the middle of the night. She didn't care. She'd sneak into the house, up to the attic and slide into bed with the girl she loved. But she couldn't bring herself to do that, either. It simply wasn't a grand enough gesture to prove to Jessie how much she loved her. She didn't even know what she would say to Jessie once she saw her, but she thought just seeing her face would give her the inspiration to speak.

Meanwhile, Jessie jumped out of the car and started walking towards the school. Grace had to run to catch up to her.

"What's your hurry?" asked Grace.

Jessie didn't know. She had a feeling Katie would try to get there early to talk to her, but she really wasn't in the mood to start crying again. And she knew she would once she saw her. She had been up all night agonizing over the decision to tell her father what was going on between her and Katie. It turned out to not be such a bad thing. It took a while for it to set in for Rick, and even though Jessie could tell he was upset, he tried his best not to show it for his daughter's sake. Jessie took comfort in the fact that he at least still loved her.

Tad came up from behind Jessie and put his arm around her as they were headed down the hallway to Jessie's locker.

"Hey Jessie! How are this morning?" he asked.

Jessie flinched at first and started to pull her shoulder away from Tad. That is until she saw Katie. Then she decided to let Tad keep his arm on her shoulder.

"I'm good, Tad. How are you?"

"Okay. Really not looking forward to another day of boring classes. I've got a huge test today in—"

Jessie just nodded. She wasn't even paying attention to what Tad was saying. All she saw was Katie, who she was getting closer and closer to with every step. And at that moment, her mind decided to flash back to the day before when Sarah was holding Katie's hand and Jessie stopped walking, pulled Tad's arm off her shoulder and took his hand. Tad was slightly puzzled by this move. He had barely dated Jessie and it was months ago. He couldn't quite figure out why she was holding his hand.

Jessie started giggling. "So what are your plans for the weekend?"

Tad shrugged. "Don't know. There's probably going to be another party. I might hit that. And then sleep the rest of the weekend."

Jessie leaned in closer to Tad while smiling. "That sounds like fun. Sleep is always good."

Katie was watching this entire scene play out before her. She couldn't quite hear what they were saying, but she did see Jessie laughing a few times. Katie's heart sank a bit, but she also smiled to herself. Grace was watching Jessie and Tad's exchange and came up to Katie.

"Um…why are you smiling? Are you seeing what I'm seeing?" asked Grace.

Katie nodded, still smirking. "Yup."

"Well, aren't you upset?"

Katie shook her head. "Maybe a little. But I think it's cute."

"Cute?" Grace was appalled.

"I know what she's trying to do, Grace. She's trying to make me jealous by flirting with Tad. And while she's successful at making me jealous, she's failing miserably at the flirting part. She's trying too hard."

"So, are you guys gonna be okay? I mean, cuz, though it may not look like it right now, Jessie's kind of miserable."

Katie grinned. "It's okay. I've got a plan. But I may need your help."

Jessie looked over at Katie and noticed she had a smirk on her face. This upset her. Here she was flirting like crazy with Tad and Katie didn't even care! She was enjoying it! Jessie immediately pulled Tad down to her by his collar and kissed him on the cheek.

"See ya, Tad!" Jessie briskly walked away from a perplexed Tad toward her locker, noticing Katie's grin turn into a look of horror. Grace was just as shocked. Jessie got to her locker and started to open it.

"Hey guys." She said nonchalantly.

Katie looked as if she were about to cry at any minute. She stared at Jessie, who in turn stared back. Their eyes were locked and Jessie forgot about anything that had been bothering her. She once again felt at home, just by looking at Katie. Katie's watery eyes snapped Jessie out of her daze. Immediately, Jessie felt horrible about what she had just done. She was about to open her mouth to apologize but Katie had walked away without saying a word.

"Katie, wait!" yelled Jessie. But Katie didn't wait. She just kept walking.

"What the hell was that, Jessie?" demanded Grace.

Jessie hid her face in her locker. She felt horrible. "I don't know. I really don't know."

Grace couldn't believe her step-sister. She walked away in a huff, leaving Jessie to relive her stupidity.

Katie sat at the lunch table in the cafeteria. There was no food in front of her, which came as a surprise to Tad and Russell. Grace already knew Katie wasn't in the mood to eat. And of course, it was Jessie Sammler who was causing Katie's lack of appetite. She sat there staring at the table as her friends stared at her, trying to comprehend what she was doing.

Jessie decided to plant herself at an empty table across the room. She didn't have the heart to face Katie after what she had done. She still felt horrible. She sat there, picking at her food and looked up. She felt a sudden surge of anger when she spotted Sarah two tables over, seriously contemplating using her Tae Kwon Do expertise to kick Sarah's ass. Instead, she looked back down at her tray and thought of Katie. She felt lost. It had only been less than 24 hours since their fight and already Jessie felt an emptiness inside her. She felt like she had not only lost the love of her life, but her best friend, as well.

Meanwhile, Katie spotted Jessie sitting by herself across the cafeteria. She couldn't take it anymore. She started breathing heavily as if preparing herself for something drastic. Tad and Russell were intrigued. They had never seen Katie like this before. It was almost as though she was…nervous about something. Katie Singer? Nervous? Now THAT was a sight. Katie glanced over at Grace and caught her eye. Grace nodded in understanding. Katie stood up. This was it. This was for Jessie. Katie stood up on the bench and then took one more step up onto the table and stood there. A few people around her stopped what they were doing and watched. Then a few more people took notice and observed Katie. When the silence started spreading, more and more students took notice of Katie Singer standing up on the lunch table, waiting in anticipation for what she was going to do. What did Katie Singer have up her sleeve this time?

Jessie finally noticed that the cafeteria noise had died down. There were still people talking, but not as many as before. She looked over to see a tall, skinny girl with honey blonde hair standing on a table. It only took a second to realize it was Katie.

Katie looked directly at Jessie and shouted, "Jessie Sammler!"

Jessie immediately felt her face get warm as several students looked over at her. She started smiling to herself and looked down.

Katie would not give up that easily. "Jessie Sammler! Will you please join me over here?!?"

Jessie looked up at Katie again. By this point, she was bright red, but also close to tears. Katie was calling to her and she had no idea what to do.

"Jessie! Stand up, will you? I'm making an ass of myself here!" yelled Katie.

Grace came up behind Jessie. "What are you doing, Jess? Stand up!" She grabbed Jessie by the arm and helped guide her up onto the table. Jessie was standing on her table looking over at Katie. She had no idea what to do. She felt hundreds of pairs of eyes watching her, but she didn't care. The only eyes she saw were the green ones belonging to a beautiful girl 100 feet away from her. Just like every other time they were together, at this moment, they were the only two people that existed in this world. Jessie's heart began to beat faster, as did Katie's.

Katie took a deep breath. Seeing Jessie looking back at her gave her the strength she needed.

"Jessie Sammler! I love you!" Katie shouted. The sound of those words echoed through the entire cafeteria. It was music to Jessie's ears. Here was Katie Singer. The most beautiful, popular girl in school declaring her love for little ol' Jessie Sammler. Jessie used to think she'd be embarrassed by such a display. But she couldn't be happier. Everyone knows. Everyone now knows the love that Katie Singer carries in her heart for Jessie. Katie stood there, trying to gage Jessie's reaction. After several seconds of silence, which felt like hours, Katie heard Jessie's response.

As loud as she could, she yelled out, "I love you, too, Katie Singer!"

Katie's beaming smile nearly blinded everyone around her. Jessie Sammler loved her too. Jessie had stood there in front of the whole school and declared her love for Katie. She started making her way over to Jessie, not even bothering to get down. She jumped the tables. Jessie did exactly the same. They both jumped from table to table until they finally met up in the middle, nearly flattening the lunches of the unsuspecting junior varsity jocks that were sitting there. There they were, 5 feet off the ground with everyone watching them. They may as well have been 500 feet off the ground. And as far as they were concerned, no one else was there. Just Jessie and Katie. Katie wasted no time and took Jessie into her arms. She brought her in for a deep, intense kiss that didn't end. Neither girl wanted to pull away, so they didn't. They just kissed and kissed and kissed. Some of the students started cheering. Some started whispering about what they were seeing. Some were gasping in shock. Some went back to what they were doing before this interruption. But Jessie and Katie weren't aware of what anyone was doing. Jessie was focused on Katie's lips, Katie was focused on Jessie's skin as she wrapped her arms around her even tighter than before. Katie pulled away from their kiss only to say one thing.

"I know I already said this, but just in case you didn't know: I love you."

Jessie smiled. "I love you, too."

Their lips met once again while they heard a few "awe's" from their audience. The bell rang and everyone started gathering up their things to go to class. Some people took their time. They wanted to watch more of the endearing scene taking place in front of them. As the room started clearing out, the girls were still lost in their passionate lip-lock. Grace came up to them.

"Girls, the bell rang. You might want to come up for air and get to class."

They both heard her, but neither one of them cared to respond. They didn't care about what trouble they might get into. As long as they were together, nothing mattered. Their lips refused to part from each other. Grace smiled and shook her head and headed off to class. The two girls were left there alone together in their reverie.

The End


End file.
